


A Day Off

by SarcasticCartoonist



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Crimes, Declarations Of Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Falling In Love, Finished writing, Friendship/Love, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a futon?, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Sort Of, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-01-01 00:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12144249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarcasticCartoonist/pseuds/SarcasticCartoonist
Summary: Beatrice Santello was never one to expect help from anybody in these last painful two years since her mother died. She'd grown accustomed to long work hours, monotonous daily chores, and a constant feeling of exhaustion that loomed over her every day. So it came as no small surprise then when Mae Borowski, her reunited childhood friend, showed up hunting for a job at the Ol' Pickaxe. Even more surprising then that was the cheery feline landed a position in the store and had been a massive help for relieving Bea's stressful workload.A month had passed since Mae got hired, and now Bea's father was starting to show up around the store as well, even offering to help on several occasions. Bea didn't dare raise her hopes for eventually getting out of Possum Springs, but with the faint possibility of her father taking back the store, Bea's life was now refueled with passion and purpose. Little was she aware though that massive changes to her life were coming much sooner than she could've predicted.





	1. Sweet Release

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first shot at trying to do a decent Romantic Fanfic. It's a pretty self-indulgent project that I picked up after reading most of the Mae/Bea stories on here so far. A lot of them were really good despite being unfinished, so it inspired me to try and write a complete story of my own! 
> 
> This chapter is a pretty basic set up of the story premise and fills in a bit of my headcanons of what happens to the gang after the events of NITW. Enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: I added a title card for the chapter for some extra flair.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37202543622/in/photostream/)

“Mornin’ ladies.”

Mae looked up from the rack of keys that she had been meticulously organizing and saw the increasingly familiar form of Mr. Santello as he walked in through the door of the Ol’ Pickaxe, relocking it as he entered.

“Good morning Mr. Santello.” Bea replied simply as she turned to a new sheet of her clipboard, scratching off the next item on the inventory list.

“Morning sir!” Mae said enthusiastically, hopping up off of her knees to face the short, middle-aged, portly croc as he gave her an acknowledging nod. Though she had grown accustomed to the presence of Bea’s father in the shop more frequently, Bea herself always seemed to tense up and fall quiet while he was around.

Mae snuck a glance between Bea and her father and coughed uncomfortably in the awkward silence. Bea continued to check off items on her inventory list in an obvious effort to avoid eye contact with her father, Mr. Santello similarly humming to himself with a fake thoughtfulness as he looked over a shelf of screws.  

 _C’mon, just talk to each other for once!_ Mae thought helplessly to herself as her tail flicked in frustration. Just talk things out, talking always helps! Or at least sometimes it does. Or maybe it wouldn’t? The Ol’ Pickaxe and her father was definitely a touchy subject for Bea, since the last time Mae brought it up she had been booted out of their apartment. Maybe she could get the ball rolling?

“So…” Mae started in an attempt to to break through the silence, “whatcha up to Mr. Santello?”

The pale green reptile turned his gaze to Mae and replied with a simple, “Just checkin’ up on the shop.”

 _Likely story_ , Mae thought as she gave a scrutinizing squint to the supposed owner of the shop.

“Ah.” Mae said with pretend interest, passing a side glance to Bea who gave a soft grunt and looked up over her clipboard to Mr. Santello.

“Inventory’s almost done. Mae just got done sweeping the floors a little while ago. Store’s good to open as soon as business hours roll around.” Bea responded with a dry and rehearsed tone as she listed off the chores they had spent the morning completing.

More silence.

Geez. Mae shuffled idly as the dreadful quiet loomed around the room like a ghost, if the ghost was super lame and was only good at making people mildly uncomfortable. She’d never be able to live with this tense silence that was always hanging between Bea and her father. Sure, she’s had fights with her parents before and dealt with similar discomfort, but this was worse. It was as if there were hundreds of fights built up between the two just waiting to explode out in a violent destructive wave of emotion. But it never happens, and the emotions keep building up.

“Glad to hear it.” Mr. Santello said after a while, shifting his weight as he turned away from the store shelf and fixed his gaze on the two girls.

“Beatrice. Margaret,” Mr. Santello said with a hint of strain in his voice as he addressed the duo. A bit taken aback by being called her full name by Bea’s father, Mae tilted her head and gave a puzzled look to the older man as he continued.

“Go ahead an’ take the day off ‘a work. I’ve got uhhh… a bit of business that needs attendin’ to,” he said slowly, as if he was unsure of what he was saying.

 _What in the world?_ Mae thought to herself as her mouth hung open a little bit out of surprise. Was… Was Mr. Santello coming back to take over the Pickaxe? He’d been visiting in more and more often since Mae started working there, and had even helped out on a number of occasions but…

Mae looked to her side and saw Bea was in a similar state of comparative shock. Maybe even more so with the way her eyes went wide and her mouth gaped open. She gave a short burst of confused blinks before setting down her clipboard and shaking her head a few times, looking back up to her father with doubt.

“You... What?” Bea said hesitantly, one eyebrow cocked with suspicion as she locked into a stare with her father, who now nodded and set his fists on his hips confidently.

“You heard me. Got business that needs attendin’ to. Go ahead an’ take the day off,” he repeated with the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity for Bea and Mae to actually hang out without the strain of work keeping them from doing anything more than watching a few movies on Mae’s laptop or talking when they were together, Mae rushed forward and slammed her palm down onto the table excitedly.

“We’ll take it, offer accepted!!” Mae exclaimed with a determined toothy grin spreading across her mouth as she grabbed Bea by her silky black sleeve and tugged the reluctant blue lizard behind her, before Bea broke off and turned to her father.

“Wait, are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Bea asked as her face contorted with worry to the prospect of Mr. Santello running the shop by himself.

“Hmph, been running this here shop pretty much since the day you were born Beatrice,” he remarked with a cold tone before slipping back behind the service desk and grabbing a set of keys from the drawer. “I’ll be fine,” he assured with a gentler tone.

 _Asshole,_ Mae thought as her mouth reflexively pulled into a scowl at the exchange. She hated when Mr. Santello talked down to Bea like that. Like he had any part in helping run the Pickaxe in the last 2 years besides having his name on the Title.

“Oh, uh.. I didn’t mean to say that you… uhh…” Bea stumbled over her words before sighing and looking to the ground, spouting out a rehearsed apology.  

“Right sir. Sorry Mr. Santello sir.”

 _Damn it BeeBee! Stand up for yourself for once!_ Mae thought as she clenched and unclenched her fist, trying to keep herself from turning around and knocking some sense into the same guy that signed her paychecks. Yeah, probably not the best plan of action there.

Another sigh rose up from the room, though this time it came from behind the desk. Mr. Santello’s eyes looked solemnly up to Beatrice as she kept her gaze away from the offending parent.

“Beatrice. I’m your father. You don’t have to call me Mr. Santello ya know,” he said slowly holding up the keys he had fetched from the desk.

“You two go ahead an’ unlock the shop an’ get on outta here. Enjoy the weather while ya still can.” he added, tossing the keys towards the two of them. Mae clumsily caught the airborne keychain before nabbing both her and Bea’s jackets from the coat rack.

“ThanksMrSantelloGoodLuckBye!” Mae hurriedly exclaimed before wrapping her arm around Bea’s and tugging the much taller girl out through the store doors before she could protest again.

<><><><><><>

The chilled autumn air of the previous season that was quickly turning into the bitter cold winds of winter nipped at Mae’s face as they stepped into the early morning light outside the Ol' Pickaxe. Mae greedily inhaled the crisp air through her nose and turned to Bea with a bright-eyed beaming smile.

“Smell that BeaBea? That’s the smell of freedom!” Mae announced happily, slinging her light faded orange jacket over her regular clothes. The jacket was probably one of her favorites, considering Bea had bought it for her after complaining that she “had no idea what fashion was” and that “wearing gloves and a t-shirt made her look silly” and was “not proper attire for winter”.

“It smells fishy to me,” Bea remarked sarcastically as she put on her thick tan overcoat and dug out a pair of dark black leather gloves from a coat pocket and proceeded to put them on.

“Nah, it definitely smells more like tacos to me!” Mae said happily as she set off nearly skipping towards the taco place down the street.

“Mae, there’s no way that Taco Buck is open this early! Who even gets a taco at nine in the morning!?” Bea exclaimed as she rushed to keep up pace with the excited feline, already dead set on a path of taco destruction.

Turning around briefly to fire off some finger guns at her companion with a knowing wink that the answer to Bea’s question was none other than the legendary Mae Borowski, Mae continued to speed walk on the poorly maintained, leaf covered sidewalks of Possum Springs. Bea begrudgingly followed along slightly behind Mae though she couldn’t help but crack a smile at the way Mae bounded joyfully through the streets of the dying town.

“At least this godforsaken place can’t kill _everything_ good in it,” Bea lamented quietly to herself as Mae reached the doors to the nearby Taco Buck, flinging the doors open with strength comparable to a gale force wind as the short, sturdy cat rushed into the building without waiting for Bea to catch up.  


	2. Taco Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope everybody is ready for some  
> A W K W A R D F L I R T I N G !!!! 
> 
> ...And tacos!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37202546262/in/photostream/)

“Mmmm, mmm, MMMM!” Mae exclaimed as she sunk the last bite of her greasy, crunchy, slightly overcooked hard taco into her mouth. With a lazy yet pleased sigh, Mae sunk into the cold metallic seat with a satisfied pat to her now taco filled stomach.

“Nothin’ like a little bit of tacos to get the day rolling right!” Mae said enthusiastically, scooting her drink to the edge of the small plastic pastel table just enough that she could extend out her lips to sip on the drink without picking it up. This earned a genuine giggle from Bea as Mae continued to slide further down into her chair in a food coma.

“Hahah, c’mon Mae knock it off, you look ridiculous.” Bea commanded, trying to stifle her laughter at the absurd scene in front of her.

Mae only continued to sink further down into her seat, despite the increased amount of effort she had to put in to reach her straw now. Craning her neck and reaching out her tongue in a vain attempt to secure the straw back into her mouth, Mae started straining and making noises as the straw eluded her desperate lips.

“Hnngggg ouuughghh get back here you effing straw owwwaauo mllllmm ” Mae grunted as her tongue grazed the straw just enough to shift it out of reach and tease her with sugary caffeinated success without any payoff. Mae broke her concentration for a brief moment with her tongue still flopping out of her mouth as she looked up at her now wildly laughing friend.

Bea slid her hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to conceal her raising laughter. Past the reptile’s hand, Mae noticed that Bea’s tongue stuck out slightly from her long snout past her teeth as she laughed open mouthed, a goofy, toothy grin forcing her eyes shut as she laughed heartily. Mae couldn’t help but join in on the laughter as she watched Bea. Mae loved watching Bea laugh, it always made her so happy to see her friends having a good time, especially Beatrice. Bea. The awesome and badass BeaBea.

A warm smile spread across Mae’s face as she studied her reunited childhood friend, her eyelids beginning to unconsciously droop as she let out a soft sigh. Bea had always been exceptionally pretty as long as Mae had known her for, but she was especially beautiful when she was laughing. She was everything that Mae wished she could be: independent, intelligent, witty, strong, unbreakable, true to herself, cute, supportive, adorable, probably a good kisser, great fashion sense, probably a **_great_ ** kisser… Hmm… what would it be like to…

Mae felt a tingling warmth creep up into her cheeks as she suddenly became very aware of the growing pressure of her teeth against her bottom lip as she reflexively started to nibble at it. Holy shit how long had she been doing that for? Oh God did Bea notice oh no oh no oh no...

Snapping her eyes up attentively to her still chuckling friend, Mae was relieved to find that Bea was having too much fun to notice her stupid antics. Glad that Bea’s eyes had been shut tight from laughter while she had been mindlessly staring at her, Mae let out a nervous half laugh and sat herself upright, her entire body feeling as it was being pricked with warm little needles.

 _“Holy shit Mae you cannot just go around fantasizing about kissing your best friend!”_ Mae lectured to herself in her thoughts as she struggled to swallow the strange lump that had formed in her throat. Why was that there? There’s no way that Bea would ever… Would she? **_Could_ ** she? But if she did…

“Haha oh wow Mae, you’re something else you know that?” Bea said as her laughter died off, bringing a clawed hand to her eye as she wiped away a stray tear that appeared from laughing too hard. Snapping back from her thoughts once more, Mae let out a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of her neck nervously.

“Heheh yeah I guess I am!” Mae offered as she smiled and finished the rest of her sugary fountain drink in a few gulps before setting the cup down and idly playing with the straw.

“Is… that a good thing or a bad thing?” Mae asked quietly as she looked up to Bea with curious, innocent eyes.

“Hmm, verdicts still out on that one kiddo,” Bea said playfully as she stuck her tongue out briefly at Mae.

Mae flushed slightly at this in a mix of embarrassment and indignity.

“I’m older than you!” Mae huffed, “Two months!”

“Mmm,” Bea mumbled in response, moving around the last bits of her breakfast burrito around her plate with a plastic fork.

“It’s a good thing,” Bea remarked as she casually sipped down the last bit of her coffee, turning to Mae as the feline titled her head with interest.

“It’s a good thing that you’re you I mean,” Bea explained for clarification.

“You’re a special one Mae Borowski. You can turn even the mundane tasks of life into an adventure,” Bea admitted with a bit of a wistful smile, her dark navy blue eyes looking away from Mae as she spoke. 

“Awww BeeBee! When’d you get so sweet and mushy?” Mae teased with a playful punch to her companion’s shoulder.

“Goddamn it Mae…” Bea groaned as she rolled her eyes, seeming to regret giving the compliment in the first place.

“Hehe, I’m just teasing Bea, I appreciate the compliment,” Mae responded with a chuckle as she extended her hand out for a fist bump.

“Besties?”

Bea pulled back her hand and bumped Mae’s fist with a smile and a nod.

“Besties.”

“Haha nice,” Mae said with a glowing smile as she looked around the nearly empty taco restaurant.

“So uhh… You got any plans today Bea?” Mae said as she turned with hopeful eyes to her friend.

“Nope,” Bea replied bluntly, drumming on the table with her fingers. “You?”

“Ooooh! We should go visit Gregg and Angus up In Bright Harbor!!” Mae exclaimed with a series of excited pats to Bea’s hand. Bea contemplated to offer for a second before shaking her head.

“I don’t think they’d be available to hang out on such short notice,” Bea reasoned, “considering that they both have jobs. Visiting them is gonna have to be planned event.”

“Ugggh why do you have to be so reasonableeeeee,” Mae whined with a pout as she sunk down onto the table, her ears drooping down with disappointment.

“We’ll visit another day,” Bea consoled before scratching her chin thoughtfully.

“Do you just wanna marathon some movies with snacks?” Bea offered the saddened cat.

“Aww man but we already do that a lot!” Mae complained, “I was hoping to something… I don’t know, a little more adventurous than that?”

“I’m not doing anything illegal,” Bea said snarkily as Mae rolled her eyes.

“Yeah yeah I know, you’re too uptight to have _real_ fun,” Mae challenged with glint in her eye.

“ _Excuse you_?” Bea questioned in a venomous whisper.

“You heard me,” Mae said with confident smugness despite Bea’s piercing glare, “You wouldn’t know how to have fun if it came up and smacked you in the head!”

“Ohhh you little…” Bea said with a snarl, causing Mae to instinctively wince in preparation a verbal onslaught. Noticing Mae’s reaction, Bea frowned and shook her head before sharply inhaling and exhaling to calm herself down.

“You don’t think I can have fun, huh?” Bea announced as she stood up from the chair, towering over the short cat and creating an imposing shadow over her face.

“Uhh, no I was only saying-” Mae started to sputter before being cut off by one of Bea's fingers suddenly at her chest, the rapid touch causing the cat to let out a feeble yip. 

“I’m about to show you the _best goddamn time of your life_ ,” Bea sneered, leaning in just inches from Mae’s face as her fiery hot breath sprayed over the stunned mammal. An accusing finger from Bae prodded at Mae’s chest as her heart threatened to beat out of her in a mix of terror and exhilaration from being this close to Bea. A few more inches would be all it took to-

Before Mae could complete her thought, the lizard pulled away from her in a huff, quickly gathering the trash from the table onto the tray and tossing it into the nearby trash can. Bea grabbed Mae’s arm with a determined stubbornness that almost tore the poor cat out of her seat as she ushered her out of the door with a small nod to the exhausted looking service man behind the desk.

“So uh.. C-crimes?” Mae tried weakly as Bea gripped her arm and pulled her forwards. Bea turned back just enough for Mae to see the fiery devilish grin that played across her face as her eyes narrowed.

“Fucking Crimes,” Bea responded with light cheering from Mae.

“Aw hell yeah baby! Bea the Badass is about to eff some shit up!” Mae proclaimed before Bea laughed dryly and let go of her arm.

“Yeah yeah lets just get this over with,” Bea said as she sighed, her confidence wavering with each passing step. She ran a hand over her cool scaly forehead in an attempt to rub her worries away. What had she gotten herself into?


	3. Breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy this chapter is a long one lol, but with good reason. It has action! Drama! Angst! Fluff! Crimes! Lots of swearing! 
> 
> Featuring special guest Germ Warfare! 
> 
> (Also it may be a bit longer until I finish up the next chapter, these chapters so far were largely finished when I started posting them. Everything else after this is all fresh!)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/36538516454/in/photostream/)

“So what’s your grand plan here crime-lord Bea?” Mae asked with a smirk as the girls approached the old abandoned Food Donkey. The weather was warmer now since the morning sun had risen and turned into the midday sun, melting away the thin layer of frost that had built up across Possum Springs overnight.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Bea mocked as she undid the belt loop around her overcoat and let the garment open up and fall loose onto her shoulders. Mae flashed a giddy smile as she remarked how Bea looked like one of those people who flash their junk in public with their trenchcoats, earning a groan from the annoyed lizard.

As they approached the back of the Food Donkey, Mae unzipped her jacket and made a satisfied exhale as she let the cool breeze flow through her upper body.

“Who’s the flasher now,” Bea remarked with a small smile as Mae laughed.

“Hey, I’m not the one wearing a big weird coat to like, abduct children or whatever people use those giant things for,” Mae retorted, bounding forward to catch up with Bea.

“Most people use them to stay warm, thank you.”

“So says the crime-lord,” Mae said with a menacing smile.

“I haven’t done anything illegal yet,” Bea defended as she walked to the far corner of the graffitied beige back wall of the Food Dinkey, picking up two spray cans from the large pile of discarded cans that sat along the wall.

“Yet,” Mae insisted, “But it looks like someone’s about to defile private property!”

“Nah, just doing my civic duty and picking up some trash,” Bea claimed half heartedly as she shook the cans and sprayed two small dots of color from each can onto the pavement below her. Two circles appeared underneath the cans, one a deep black and another a bright yellow.

“I’ll take the yellow!” Mae requested with a couple light flicks from her tail as she walked and stood next to Bea. The lizard complied with a nod as she handed the spray can over to Mae. It was cool to the touch, contrasting with Mae’s warm furred hands. It was nice and hefty too, meaning the can was nearly full.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Bea said to herself with a shaky exhale as she approached the wall of the Food Donkey. Her scaled fingers drifted over the cracked brick of the old building hesitantly, as if she were trying to decode a secret message hidden in the brick work.

“This is… Not a good idea,” Bea declared with a sideways look to Mae. Bea’s eyes darted nervously between the spray paint, Mae, and the wall.

A soft hand gripped Bea’s shoulder, causing her to tense up at the unfamiliar sensation. Turning cautiously to the source of the hand on her, Bea looked down and saw the sympathetic amber eyes of Mae as she gave her a reassuring smile.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Mae said with a small nod as worry spread across Bea’s face.

“But I find that a little bit of property damage can be quite calisthenic,” Mae admitted with a wink.

“You mean cathartic?” Bea corrected with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah yeah, whichever one means that smashing things is relaxing for me,” Mae said as she gave the spray can a few sporadic shakes and began to mark out a signature, the yellow spray shooting out of the can and splattering messily on the shape of an ‘m’. Bea backed out of the splash zone of the spray while judging Mae’s handiwork.

“Writing out your name?” Bea questioned as the letters ‘a’ and ‘e’ appeared after the ‘m’ on the wall.

“Gotta let people know who runs this town!” Mae declared as she added a sloppy loop to the end of her ‘e’, stepping back to appreciate her handiwork.

“Not bad for a signature eh?” Mae questioned as Bea tilted her head and scrutinized the wall.

“A bit sloppy on the penmanship but it’s passable,” Bea retorted before approaching the wall and sighing.

“Let me show you how it's done…?” Bea said, attempting to sound authoritative but the statement came out more like an unsure question. Giving a thick audible swallow, Bea quickly sprayed out the letters of her name next to Mae’s in dripping black paint before spinning on her heel and speed walking back to Mae.

“Ha! And you said my writing was sloppy!” Mae joked as Bea stood next to her, rubbing her forehead and tapping her foot impatiently.

“Ugh whatever, let’s just get out of here before the cops show up.”

Mae looked at Bea with her lips curled up into an incredulous smile as she let out a small exhale.

“Wow, you really _are_ paranoid about this aren’t you?” Mae questioned as she watched Bea’s worried expression turn into one of frustration.

“Yes! Yes I am! I don’t want to get thrown in jail on my one day off! Sue me!” Bea ranted with frustration as she kicked a stray rock next to her.

“Argh! I just don’t get it! How is this enjoyable for you? All its doing for me is-”.

“Making you angry?” Mae completed as she squatted down and scooped up a sizeable chunk of asphalt from the broken pavement.

“Does it upset you? Fuel you with burning rage?” Mae challenged with a testing glare at the stunned lizard.

“I don’t-” Bea started before abruptly being cut off.

“Maybe it's time for you to let loose then! Stop bottling up those emotions and just let them explode out!” Mae encouraged as she tossed the pavement piece to Bea, the reptile’s gloved hands catching it with ease.

“Get back at the world for how shitty it is! Show ‘em who’s in charge and give that window hell!” Mae cheered with an encouraging fist pump into the air.

Bea ran her fingers over the asphalt in her hands thoughtfully, considering the offer. Mae watched with hopeful anticipation as Bea’s head suddenly snapped towards the window, her face contorting into a toothy snarl.

“Nobody cares about this damn town anymore. Everyone else might be okay with sitting down on their asses pretending everything’s fine, but I won’t!” Bea yelled with growing passion.

“Hell yeah! Preach Bee!”Mae cheered excitedly.

“No matter how much you take from me, I swear to god I’ll outlive you just so I can see the day that this pathetic excuse of a town burns to the ground,” Bea continued in a low growl, her voice and body beginning to tremble with the outpouring of emotion.

“Hell… Yeah?” Mae stuttered as she turned her concerned eyes to Bea. That was a pretty extreme promise to make out of spite, even by Mae’s standards.

“You… You took everything from me you bastard!” Bea shouted passionately to the Food Donkey as her voice started to become raspy and strained.

“It wasn’t enough for you to just t-take my mom away from me,” Bea choked out as burning tears began to flow from her eyes and down her cheek, “but you killed my future too, a-and destroyed any hopes I had of leaving this shit hole of a town! FUCK YOU!!”

Mae watched in stunned silence as Bea pulled back her arm and chucked the asphalt with startling strength, the window shattering immediately on impact with the rock, glass clattering loudly as it hit the ground.

Mae stared forward at the broken window numbly, a dead silence spreading over the lot interrupted only briefly by a suppressed sob from Bea.

“Go to Hell, Possum Springs,” Bea said in a hoarse whisper as she turned her back to Mae, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her coat.

“Um.. BeaBea, you uh… You okay?” Mae asked cautiously as she approached the reptile, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. There was a long pause after Mae posed the question before Bea’s shoulders slumped down with a sigh.

“No,” Bea replied softly, still faced away from Mae.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Mae prodded gently as she began to slowly rub Bea’s shoulder. Bea cleared her throat and sniffed before glancing back at Mae with wet, tired eyes.

“No,” Bea responded before adding, “Or at least not right now. Just…” Bea trailed off as she turned fully to Mae and wrapped her into an unexpected hug. Mae purred softly as she wrapped her arms around Bea’s waist and pulled her into tight to herself, alternating between rubbing and patting her back in the few moments that they shared the embrace.

Bea’s coat was soft and smooth against Mae’s hands, and she could feel the faint warmth of her body through the leathery material. Mae rested her head gently against Bea’s chest, the smell of a flowery perfume with a hint of cigarette smoke filled her nose and caused it to twitch slightly. It was a very relaxing scent, a familiar smell that made Mae feel right at home.

Bea released Mae from the hug after a short while with a gentle exhale, looking down to the shorter cat with a soft smile.

“Thanks for that Mayday.”

“Aww it’s no big deal,” Mae replied with a grin, blushing slightly from the nickname as she continued, “I’m here whenever you need me.”

“Heheh, well that’s quite sweet of y-” Bea started before looking forward and stopping mid sentence at the sight of Germ, who was leaning on his bike against a nearby dumpster.

“Oh uh… Hi Germ,” Bea said awkwardly as Mae whipped around towards the young, lanky green bird.

“Sup,” Germ replied as he stared blankly at the pair, tapping his index finger on the handlebar of his bicycle.

“Jesus Germ, you can’t just sneak up on people like that!” Mae scolded harshly. “How long were you standing there for?”

“I dunno, a few minutes,” he answered with a small frown.

“Heard some glass break and yelling. Thought I might get to see a fight,” Germ continued with no small lack of disappointment in his voice.

“Sorry, that was, well… Uh...” Bea mumbled as she looked down in shame.

“That was me,” Bea admitted quietly.

“It’s cool,” Germ said calmly, leaving his rusted neon blue bike against the dumpster to come stand closer to the pair.

“Me ‘n the crusties sometimes come back here and throw rocks at the windows,” Germ commented as he lazily lobbed a nearby stone at a window on the upper floor, the shot missing by a couple inches.

“Don’t usually end up breaking them though,” Germ added, looking at Bea and cocking his head to the side.

“You’ve got some good arms on you. Could probably strangle someone out if you wanted to,” Germ assessed as he picked up another rock and tossed it between his hands.

“That’s… an interesting conclusion,” Mae commented with an unsure glance to the bird next to her. Germ was always a bit of an outsider when it came to their circle of friends, though Mae wasn’t sure he fit in anywhere. He didn't really have any friends in school that were his age, and he mostly hung around the train goers and Gregg, though the crime loving fox was off in Bright Harbor now. Germ was definitely from somewhere else, like maybe a different planet, or a parallel universe, but it certainly wasn't from here.  

“He’s not wrong,” Bea replied ominously as she looked to Mae and squinted, flexing her arm as she pointed to the feline.

“Better watch yourself, kid,” Bea teased with a cocky smile.

“Ha! Whatever you say,” Mae mocked with a lopsided grin. Germ’s eyes went wide as he looked at Mae with distraught.

“You know she snapped a 2x4 in half with her bare hands, right?” Germ warned.

“Whoa, really?!” Mae asked awestruck as she looked to Bea for confirmation of the tall tale.

“Ugh, that's not... entirely true. I broke it over my knee, and it was a really weak board anyways,” Bea defended as she nudged a small pile of pebbles at her feet with the tip of her boot. “I was pretty pissed off too.”

“Outraged more like,” Germ offered, Bea’s instantaneous glare shooting straight through the avian, though he seemed unfazed by the exchange.

“And I thought I’ve seen you angry before!” Mae said with wide-eyed wonder at Bea, the reptile huffing with embarrassment as she looked away from the other two.

“Guys, can we _please_ not talk about this right now.” Bea said in a low, hoarse whisper as her mouth pulled down into an saddened frown.

“I’m not exactly proud of the times when I lose my temper,” she lamented, passing a quick look to Mae.

Though it was just a flash of a look, Mae saw something that she hadn’t seen before in Bea’s eyes when their gaze met: Vulnerability. There was fear and hurt swimming in the deep blue of the reptile’s eyes, but this wasn’t like the fear that she had seen Bea show when they we’re down in the mines together. This was a different kind of fear. A fear for the ones she loved. A fear of losing control. A familiar fear that Mae knew all too well after her incident on the softball field. After constantly being watched by the worried eyes of everyone who had heard about what she’d done, wondering when the next time she’d snap and lose it.

 

Beatrice Santello was afraid of herself.

  
“Yeah, sure. Sorry,” Germ said calmly, nodding an apology to Bea.

“It’s fine,” Bea reassured with a tense smile in an attempt to cover up the fact that it probably wasn’t fine. Mae was definitely gonna have to talk to her about this later.

“Cool,” Germ replied before sending a confused glance to Mae and Bea.

“I thought you guys worked today?” Germ questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Screw the system! We skipped work to come out and graffiti shit and cause property damage!” Mae jeered with a devious grin before Bea put a hand on Germ’s shoulder with a few sympathetic pats.

“My dad gave us the day off,” Bea clarified with a smirk as she totally ruined Mae’s badass story.

“Oh, yeah. Mister Santello. I forget he’s your father sometimes,” Germ said as he mirrored Bea’s actions by mechanically reaching up to Bea’s taller shoulder and patting it.

“Uhh… Yeah…” Bea said uncomfortably as Germ continued to pat her shoulder longer than necessary, staring unblinking at her before breaking off with a big grin.

“You deserve a day off,” Germ assessed as he continued to smile. Or at least what Mae was pretty sure was supposed to be a smile. It looked more like Germ was experiencing indigestion and was in mild pain, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

“Thanks Germ,” Bea said as she matched his strange smile with a toothy counterpart of her own.

“Cut that out before you guys summon the mother ship or something you weirdos,” Mae said with a small smile, amused at her own joke.

“We already did,” Germ said plainly as he looked at Mae and blinked slowly, causing Mae’s blood to freeze in her veins as she stared back at the bird.

“Haha! Gotcha!” Germ declared with a satisfied smile as he darted back over to his bike and swung his jean-clad leg over the seat to hop on.

“Catch you guys later,” Germ said as he released his kickstand and began peddling away from the building at dizzying speeds.

“That was a joke, right?” Mae asked cautiously as Bea walked up to stand next to her friend, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket as they watched Germ race off into the distance.

“Maybe,” Bea replied as she stuck a cigarette in between her lips with one gloved hand and lit it with the other, a plume of smoke pouring out of her mouth after she took a lengthy drag from the stick.

“MaeBea,” Mae responded with a proud smile as she pointed to the graffitied wall where their names were spelled out.

“Huh. I never noticed that before,” Bea commented softly, a warm smile spreading over her snout.

“That’s pretty nifty!” Bea said as they stood closely together, admiring their artistry. It definitely was kinda nifty.

Suddenly Mae felt a thick scaly tail brush down part of the length of her furry feline one, causing her tail to reflexively jerk back and make her jump at the startling sensation. She heard blood flow past her ears as an intense blush flooded her face. Oh geez. Looking up to Bea, Mae saw a distinct violet color showing faintly past her scaled cheeks as the reptile’s eyes widened with surprise at the exchange. Oh man is that what Beatrice looked like when she blushed? Mae didn’t even know crocodiles **_COULD_ ** blush. It was adorable.

“Oh, sorry,” Bea murmured with a slight cough as she briskly turned away from Mae and took another drag from her cigarette. Mae stared at the back of Bea’s jacket in astonishment as she struggled to get her heartbeat back to normal. That was an accident, right? Had to have been. Yet Mae couldn’t help but notice Bea’s unsteady hand trembling lightly as she flicked off some ashes from her cigarette.

“I don’t know about you, but I think that’s enough adventure for me,” Bea stated with certainty as she dropped the butt of her spent cigarette on the pavement and stomped it out with a heavy black boot, seemingly having recovered from the incident.

“Now how’s about we go get some movies to watch?” Bea offered with a smirk as she gave a side glance to the still rosy-cheeked Mae.

“Yep!” Mae said with a glowing smile, too lost in the previous moments to come up with a wittier response. The pair walked together for a few steps before Mae stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed the sleeve of Bea’s jacket.

“Wait, we’re getting snacks too riiiiiight?” Mae asked with a prying gaze, releasing the sleeve after getting Bea’s attention.

“We’ll swing by that video store and grab some popcorn,” Bea assured as Mae continued to stare at her with expectant round amber eyes. Bea rolled her eyes with a smile and shook her head.

“And some candy.”

“YES! SCORE!” Mae exclaimed with giddy excitement as she proceeded to rapidly pump her fists into the air, causing Bea to chuckle.

“Some people never change,” Bea muttered under her breath with a smile as she caught up to Mae, the duo walking off back into town to hunt down some decent films for them to watch.


	4. Sugarcoated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say on this chapter, just some more shenanigans and fluff between Mae and Bea. We'll be getting into the meat of the story with the next few chapters though, so stay tuned!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37274350921/in/photostream/)

“So are we going to your house or my apartment?” Bea asked as the pair walked out of Video Outpost “Too”, Bea carrying the small plastic bag with the popcorn and a few movies while Mae held the bag with the candy.

“My room’s got a futon in it!” Mae offered as she pulled out a sucker from the bag and proceeded to remove the wrapper.

“Ugh, but your room is in an uninsulated attic,” Bea complained as Mae stuck the bright red sucker into her mouth, summoning another one from the bag to offer to Bea.

“So?” Mae asked as Bea accepted the sucker and nabbed it gently from the feline’s hand.

“Thanks,” Bea said as she began to unwrap the berry blue sucker and stick it in her mouth.

“That means that your room is gonna be super cold when night rolls around,” Bea remarked as the sucker stick fell into the position that her cigarette normally occupied.

“And if you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of freezing to death,” Bea pointed out as she motioned to her winter attire.

“I’ve got blankets Bee, you’ll live,” Mae casually replied, rolling the sucker around her tongue and indulging in the sweet cherry flavoring. Cherry suckers are the bomb.

“I’ll agree to it if we watch my movie first,” Bea offered, shooting an inquisitive glance over to Mae.

“Whaaaaat?” Mae huffed out in disbelief, “No way! I’ve been waiting since last year’s Harfest to watch Swamp Husband 2!”

“The first one wasn’t even that good,” Bea argued with a small look of disgust, “I can’t even tell you how many times I gagged at the sex scene. The noises that thing made left me traumatized.”

“That ‘ _thing_ ’ has a name you know! Remar! And the romance between Remar and Camille was a beautiful and complex spin on the ‘forbidden romance’ trope!” Mae defended with a waggling disciplinary finger to Bea.

“There was barely even a plot, and what little plot they had was just a justification for Camille to make out with slimy fish boy for fanservice,” Bea criticized with raised eyebrows and she challenged Mae’s film selection.

“There were a lot of kissing scenes, I’ll give you that much,” Mae admitted with a dismissive wave of her hand, “ But it was still a great romantic tale about how true love conquers all barriers! Even those of swamp monsters!”

“Hmph, it still boils down to nothing but a cheesy love film that doesn’t even come close to representing how actual relationships are,” Bea seethed as she discarded her sucker stick into a nearby trashcan.

“Since when did you become the expert on romance?” Mae questioned with a heated look to Bea.

“As far as I know, you’ve never even been in a relationship!”

“Tch, then I guess that proves how much you don’t know about me,” Bea scoffed, making Mae’s heart sink like a weight. Oh God. She really hadn’t asked all that much about the years that she was off at college, so that means that Bea definitely could have been in a relationship in that time period. Or she could still be in one. Damn.

Mae’s hands started to get clammy as the jacket she was wearing began to feel heavy and uncomfortably warm on her shoulders. Why did she care if Bea was with someone else? Good for her.

Mae glanced over to Bea with pitiful eyes and sighed. Mae knew why she cared. She was jealous, as ridiculous as it seemed. She had some sort of complicated feelings towards Bea, but they were feelings nonetheless. Just like the complicated feelings that Camille had for Remar. A relationship that Bea made very clear she had no interest in.

“We’ll watch your movie first,” Mae said snarkily as they passed Bea’s apartment and the crocodile motioned in an offer to watch the films there, Mae’s response causing Bea’s eyebrows to shoot up in concern.

“Well damn Mae! If I’d known you cared so much about the swamp man movie I wouldn’t have brought it up!” Bea said with a dry laugh, causing Mae to bite her tongue to avoid lashing out at the comment.

 _It’s not about the damn movie!_ Mae shouted internally as she struggled to keep her composure. But she couldn’t out herself now and expose the real reason she was upset, because then she would just look like an idiot. Geez, she really was upset over nothing. Stupid. Mae really hated herself sometimes.

“It’s not the movie,” Mae said quietly as she rubbed her eyes in frustration, causing Bea to tilt her head with interest.

“It just that…” Mae started before shaking her head and sighing.

“Ugh, forget about it. It’s just me being an idiot as usual I guess haha,” Mae said with an insincere laugh. Bea simply gave a small nod of understanding before continuing onward in silence. Though Mae had wished that Bea would’ve said something reassuring, she was also thankful for the quiet. It gave her the chance to clear her head. Plus Mae had found that the less she talked when she was upset, the less she screwed things up.

As the pair stepped onto Mae’s street, she could see the early afternoon sun glinting off the windows of the Borowski household as the warm light struggled to peak out from behind the growing mass of clouds. Mae gazed nostalgically at the blue painted shingles of her house, filled with the sentiments of her childhood. She had spent many summer afternoons roaming around their picket fenced yard having stick fights with imaginary monsters or listening to Granddad’s ghost stories around the fire pit. The Good Old Days.

“Do you think your parents would mind if I stayed ‘till dinner?” Bea asked as they approached the front door, Bea’s hand resting on the knob as she waited for a response.  

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m sure they’d be fine with it,” Mae responded after a moment, lost in her own thoughts.

“Hey, maybe I’d be able to cook something up for your family for a change,” Bea said with an appreciative, soft smile as she opened up the door and let herself in. Mae couldn’t help but beam back at the lizard as she nodded in agreement. It had become sort of a tradition for Mae to come over and cook a meal for the Santellos whenever Bea went out and got groceries. She only ever screwed up once! Luckily Mr. Santello didn’t seem to mind having salmon cooked extra well, though Bea hardly touched her plate that night.

“We’ll have to see if your mashed potatoes are any match for mine!” Mae challenged as they entered into the house, Bea politely kicking her boots off on the welcome mat as Mae tossed off her jacket onto the coat rack sloppily.

“You do make some pretty mean mashed potatoes,” Bea admitted as she shot Mae a quick finger gun and a wink.

“The meanest taters in town,” Mae proudly bragged as she poshly brushed off her fingers on her chest in pretend fanciness.

“We’ll leave that for the judges to decide,” Bea smugly commented with a smirk as she slipped out of her coat and neatly hung it on the coat rack, taking an extra moment to correctly place Mae’s Jacket on one of the racks.

Mae’s eyes narrowed at Bea as she sized up her new opponent on the field of culinary battle. Mae had the advantage of having crafted her signature side dish on multiple occasions, allowing her to pinpoint the best ratio of ingredients to result in the perfect potato masterpiece. But Bea was a wild card. Though Mae had never seen Bea cook, she knew that the croc had to have a decent amount of experience given her situation. Plus she had the underdog advantage. Everyone was going to want see her take out the undefeated champion.

Bea noticed Mae’s scrutiny and gave a chuckle as she raised her hands defensively.

“I’m not gonna like, try to out-cook you or anything Mae. I’m just returning a favor is all,” Bea assured her as Mae relaxed her stance and cleared her throat.

“Oh. Right,” Mae said sheepishly, embarrassed that she had let her competitive side get the better of her. Bea gave a toothy grin before giving Mae a pat on her back.

“Hey girls!” Candy greeted from the kitchen table as she set down her book and stood up.

“Beatrice! I haven’t seen you over here in ages!” Candy announced with a joyous smile as she opened up her arms to offer a hug.

“It has been quite a while, hasn’t it?” Bea agreed as she leaned down to give the shorter woman a proper hug.

“Mmm, it’s good to see you Bea,” Candy said softly as she separated from the embrace with a worried smile.

“Sorry the house is such a mess, I’ve been so busy with paperwork and with Stan being caught underneath all this unionizing business, we haven’t had a chance to really clean up the place,” Candy apologized as Mae rolled her eyes.

“It’s fine, Candy. Honestly it looks as if it were cleaned yesterday!” Bea complimented as Mae raised an annoyed hand and interjected into the conversation.

“That’s because it was. By me. For like 3 hours,” Mae said with a hint of bitterness at her work being so readily forgotten.

“Wait, _you’re_ the one who swept and mopped the floors and organized the cabinets, sweetie?” Candy asked incredulously as Mae nodded.

“Yeah, remember you asked me to do that for you?” Mae asked with an impatient foot tapping against the linoleum floor.

“Like a couple weeks ago at least. I thought your father got tired of waiting and just did it himself,” Candy admitted with a proud smile.

“Well I’ve gotta say Mae, you did an outstanding job!” Candy exclaimed as her smile widened, the compliment melting some of the edge away from Mae’s attitude.

“Aww it’s nothing mom, I’ve gotten pretty good at cleaning and organizing since I started working for Ol' Bea here,” Mae said with a smirk towards the reptile.

“I’m glad to hear that honey! Is everything going well at the store Bea?” Candy asked curiously as Bea gave a casual shoulder shrug.

“Things have been hectic since winter is rolling around, and it seems like every other day we get a new shipment of snow shovels or salt bags,” Bea said with exhaustion in her voice.

“But as much as I hate to admit it, your own little Borowski here has been a huge help,” Bea commented, flashing a brief grin to Mae as she slapped her back heartily.

“Hey!” Mae exclaimed with indignity, partially from being called a “little Borowski” and partially from the somewhat forceful slap by Bea.

“Well I’m glad to hear everything’s working out at the store! Actually speaking of which, I thought the Ol' Pickaxe didn’t close until late evening?” Candy questioned as she picked up her purse from underneath the table and slid the book she was reading into the cluttered bag.

“My father wanted to run the shop today, so he gave us the day off,” Bea said plainly as she played with a loose piece of plastic from the movie bag.

“Wow, that’s great news!” Candy said as she hefted her bag ever her shoulder.

“Is Mr. Santello… Uhh… You know...” Candy started as she made idle motions with her hands, not wanting to finish the sentence herself.

 _Mom noooooooooooo stop while you’re ahead_ **_please_ ** _for the love of GOD,_ Mae pleaded internally as she watched her mother fumble around the uncomfortable question.

“Not yet, but I think he’s making progress,” Bea replied professionally, like a doctor diagnosing a patient.

“That’s good Bea. Good good good,” Candy sighed with relief as she began to make her way out of the door, grabbing a light blue umbrella that was leaned against the base of the coat rack.

“I’m headed off to work you two, have fun and be safe!” Candy advised as she opened the door and waved goodbye.

“Wait mom!” Mae exclaimed just as Candy was about to shut the door.

“It’s alright if Bea stays for dinner right? She wanted to cook for us tonight!” Mae exclaimed as she held her hands up in hopeful anticipation.

“Oh Bea sweetie, you’re always welcome to stay as long as you’d like,” Candy said with a warm and inviting smile, Mae cheering silently at the decision.

“And please, you really don’t have to cook us anything if you don’t want to,” Candy added with a polite nod.

“It’s fine, Mae has made dinner for our family a number of times now, so I figured I should repay the favor at least once,” Bea replied with a small smile.

“You’re an absolute gem Beatrice, thank you,” Candy replied as she stepped out of the door.

“Bye girls, have a good night!” Candy called out one last time as she tapped open her umbrella and headed out.

“Bye!” Mae and Bea called back in unison as the door clicked shut, a few moments of silence following afterwards.

“You’re mom’s a sweet lady,” Bea commented as she set down the movie bag and began to sift through the contents to pull out the bags of microwavable popcorn that they had purchased at the video store.

“Way too sweet actually, like those colored sugar sticks. She always pulls out the super fake polite and cheery stunt whenever guests are around, everything she says is so sugarcoated that it’s hard to swallow,” Mae criticised harshly with a frown as she set the bag she was carrying down next to Bea’s.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that she does sort of use an overly polite customer service voice whenever she talks to me,” Bea agreed as she opened up one of the bags of popcorn and set it inside the microwave, pressing the ‘popcorn’ button with a clawed finger.

“Yeah exactly! The customer service voice! That’s a perfect description of it!” Mae shouted with exasperation as she hopped up onto the counter next to Bea, letting her feet dangle off to the drawers below.

“I mean come on, I use the same voice everyday at work so you can’t judge her too hard for it,” Bea considered as she set to opening up another bag of popcorn in preparation to be popped.

“I don’t use the customer service voice, I just tell ‘em how it is!” Mae declared confidently as Bea smirked, giving her a knowing look.

“And that would be why I work up at the register,” Bea sang out teasingly to the feline on the counter.

“Pssh, I could totally work up at the register,” Mae judged as she swung her feet back and forth on the counter, Bea casting a doubtful glance at the cat.

“No offense Mae, but you’re a bit… Uhh…,” Bea rambled as she tapped her hands together and looked away from Mae.

“Oh come on, if you’re gonna criticize me don’t dance around it. Give it to me straight!” Mae commanded with pound to her chest.

“I can take it!” Mae claimed with a determined stare.

“Alright, here goes,” Bea agreed reluctantly as she pulled the now fully popped bag of popcorn out of the microwave and set it aside.

“I genuinely think that you have everybody’s best interests at heart, I really do,” Bea started as she placed the next bag into the microwave, starting the cycle again.

“But you’re just so _dense_ sometimes Mae. It feels like the things people say never get through to you,” Bea evaluated as she huffed in frustration. There was a pause of silence between the two, the whir of the microwave filling the room with background noise.

“Yeah,” Mae said softly as she looked down at the tiles of the kitchen floor, thinking about what Bea had said. Mae wasn’t always the best when it came to socializing, especially outside of her circle of friends. That’s why she’d struggled so hard in college, she just couldn’t connect with anybody. She was awful at picking up any sort of social cues, usually resulting in her being the awkward tagalong that nobody really wanted around when they were with other friends. A friend of a friend. A lot of times Mae felt like she was extra baggage that had to be lugged around by her friends while they were out in public.

“But the only way to get better at something is to keep trying, right?” Mae asked as she tapped at her knee, still looking at the ground.

“The way I see it, there are two options in life: You either sit around always feeling miserable about your failures and shortcomings until you think that you’re unredeemable, or you learn from your mistakes and try to be a better person,” Mae lamented as she looked up to Bea, the lizard’s eyes meeting with hers as she stood entranced by her speech.

“Improvement is... difficult. We all fall back into our dark places sometimes. It's a slow process that often times makes you feel like you’re just running in place, never moving forward,” Mae said with a somber stare at Bea.

“Somedays it feels like you’ll never get better, or that you’re _doomed_ ,” Mae stated as she kept her gaze fixed upon Bea, the black clothed girl beside her turning away and biting her finger at the end of the sentence. _Doomed_ , or in other words, the way that Bea had described her future on the night of Jackie’s party.

“But our lives don't have to be that way. I know it’s easy to just give up. Trust me, I’ve been there before. But as soon as you give up on yourself, that’s when your life is truly over. That’s when you’re really doomed,” Mae said with a flourish as she hopped down from the counter, and faced Bea.

“So I think that all we can ever hope to be are people trying to get better, who help other people along the way. That way when we die, it hurts. It hurts because we were meaningful to someone. Because we were able to change one person’s life, and in that small way, we changed the world for the better,” Mae said with a bittersweet smile as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. That’s all she ever wanted to be, was someone that could help other people like her friends helped her.

Small droplets of rain began to hit against the side of the windows, filling the room with sense of serenity as the soft pattering of rain echoed throughout the house.

“Damn it Mae,” Bea whispered as she let out a shaky sigh and turned to the mammal.

“You’re really damn sappy sometimes, you know that?” Bea said with an earnest smile as she went up and embraced Mae in a tight hug, her arms pressing into Mae’s back as she let out a small murmur of content.

“You already mean the world to me, idiot,” Bea cooed softly as she ran her fingers gently through the back of Mae’s hair, earning a pleased rumble of deep purring from the cat.

“You mean it?” Mae asked as she nuzzled into Bea’s shoulder, cherishing the close embrace.

“Yes,” Bea said as she abruptly cut off the hug, gently pushing Mae back and grabbing onto her shoulders, giving her an intense stare.

“Now promise me that we’re gonna stop getting so emotional all the time, because I’m running low on the amount of hugs that I’m allowed to give out,” Bea commanded with a piercing gaze as Mae giggled in disbelief.

“A hug quota is definitely something that you would have BeaBea,” Mae joked as she brushed off Bea’s hands from her shoulders.

“But you have my word, no more talking about our feelings,” Mae teased with mock seriousness as she saluted Bea.

“Scout’s honor?” Bea questioned with a returned salute.

“Scout’s honor,” Mae replied with a wink, easing down from her salute.

“Good!” Bea exclaimed as she grabbed the second bag of popcorn out of the microwave and handed it to Mae.

“Now whaddya say we go watch some movies?” Bea offered as she slipped her fingers into the handles of the movie bag and picked it up in a fluid motion.

“Hmm, I don’t know how I _feel_ about that,” Mae sarcastically commented with a smile, a whip from Bea’s thick reptilian tail slapping against her leg at the comment.

“Owwww...” Mae whined as she rubbed the sore spot on her leg.

“Oops, I guess I let my emotions get the better of me,” Bea retorted with a smug grin, before turning to head out of the kitchen.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Mae said cynically as she followed behind Bea, grabbing the bag full of candy off the table as she passed by it. If nothing else, Mae was glad to have Beatrice as her closest friend, despite her somewhat sarcastic and cynical nature.

 _There was no better listener in the world than BeeBee_ , Mae thought happily to herself as she followed the loud thudding footsteps of Bea’s boots upstairs to her room.


	5. The Mortal Fates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far!
> 
> Here's chapter 5, also known as the "chapter where I am too weak to resist romantic tropes (there's cuddling) and also breakfast foods for dinner".

“But Captain, how do you plan on fighting back this beast?” Lieutenant Gardet cried out anxiously as the movie panned out to Captain Lavaud looking out over the gloomy and devastated horizon of the once flourishing industrial era city.

“Surely you know that the creature has already snuffed out all the flames left in this world! Without a fire, the monster is unstoppable!” Gardet screamed out in desperation as rain pelted against his soldier’s trench coat, the dim blue light of the moon illuminating his jet black fathers. Captain Lavaud turned dramatically as she donned her captain’s cap over her slick pale brown scales and stared down at the Lieutenant, the ashes they had been standing on whipping behind her with a strong gust of wind.

“They may have stolen fire away from our cities,” Captain Lavaud started as Bea joined in on the line from the other side of the laptop screen.

“But they cannot steal the fire away from our souls,” Bea whispered in time with the movie as a small smile spread across her face.

Mae stirred slightly at the sound of Bea’s voice, but only managed to nuzzle herself into Bea’s arm a little more before falling back into a sound sleep. Bea looked down at the sleepy cat and let out a small chuckle at the way Mae was holding onto her shoulder. Having fallen asleep pretty much right after the first 10 minutes of Bea’s movie, the poor girl had no choice but to sacrifice one of her arms over to the cat to rest on lest she wake her up.

After a whole lot of begging and pleading from Mae, Bea finally caved in and let her watch “Swamp Husband 2” first. Luckily for Bea, at about the half hour mark they both collectively decided that the second movie was garbage, allowing Bea to watch “The Mortal Fates”, a decidedly better film. Not that she hadn’t already predicted that Mae’s movie was gonna be awful. Almost all direct-to-video sequels were. And this was a sequel to an already bad movie.

“Back off, you scoundrels!” Captain Lavaud screamed out as she fended off dark shifting ethereal monsters from the bloodied and battered form of the Lieutenant hunched over behind her.

“Mmm,” Mae mumbled into Bea’s side as Lavaud busied herself at knifing apart the encroaching monsters on screen.

“Mmm,” Bea responded distractedly as she watched the Captain helplessly throw herself at the creatures in an attempt to get the duo out of harm’s way.

“Captain, we can’t keep fighting these things forever!” Lieutenant Gardet sputtered as he struggled to steady himself against a nearby wall.

“I refuse to leave another soldier behind, Lieutenant! Just stay behind me, and that’s an order!” Lavaud commanded breathlessly as an ethereal hand reached out and swiped at her abdomen, sending her stumbling backwards in pain as she gripped her stomach and let out a haunting scream.

“Nooo…” Mae muttered in her sleep as she held herself closer to Bea’s arm.

“Hmm?” Bea grunted in curiosity as she looked down to the cat at her side. A look of mild distress and worry was spread over Mae’s face as she tried to bury herself into Bea’s arm for comfort.

“Aww sorry Mayday, here,” Bea whispered as she turned down the volume on the laptop, looking down to make sure the feline was resting peacefully once more. A small smile spread across Mae’s lips as she let out a miniature exhale of satisfaction. Bea smiled pleasantly down at the resting cat and returned to her movie.

“Lieutenant! What are you doing?!” Captain Lavaud shouted as Gardet stumbled up to the increasingly large wall of darkness that was pursuing them.

“Forgive my insubordination Captain,” Lieutenant Gardet muttered, “But I won’t let you perish here!”

With the last of his strength, Gardet drew his sword and charged headfirst into the awaiting abyss, getting in one last blow before the darkness swallowed his figure completely. Tears fell silently onto the ground as the Captain watched in shocked horror at the disappearance of her former comrade.

Suddenly Bea felt Mae shift her weight from her arm as Mae draped one of her arms over the blanket that rested on Bea’s stomach, the other arm slinging over Bea’s shoulders as Mae nestled herself into the nook of reptile’s neck. Oh. Oh no.

Bea felt a rush of heat flow into her face as she looked down at Mae and bit her lip nervously. There was no way she’d be able to keep watching the movie like this. But she also didn’t want to wake her up. Decisions, decisions.

Bea looked down at the movie playing quietly in her lap and then over to the peacefully sleeping Mae. Sighing with defeat, she carefully shut the laptop and set it aside. Bea had already seen “The Mortal Fates” at least a dozen times, she was mostly watching it so that she could show Mae what quality filmmaking looked like.

“And that plan fell through when you decided to take a nap,” Bea whispered to Mae under her breath, the cat’s clipped ear twitching in response. Bea’s eyes drifted over to the old wound on Mae’s ear and smiled. She remembered how Mae got those scars. The poor girl has been terrified of dogs ever since.

Bea sat quietly and listened to the sound of Mae’s steady breathing as she studied where the deep blue fur on Mae’s head turned into the raspberry violet of her hair. The dye job was pretty well done, did Mae do that herself? Hmm.

Bea carefully moved her hand from Mae’s shoulder and weaved her fingers through the mammal’s hair, stroking the soft velvet tufts with gentle curiosity. Though Bea would never admit it, she really liked how Mae’s hair and fur felt. They were incredibly soft and warm to the touch, comforting even, given the proper circumstances. Mae’s hands sleepily kneaded at Bea’s side as the feline’s purring rumbled into Bea’s neck and tickled her throat, causing her to let out a reflexive giggle.

Bea watched Mae’s blissful sleeping grin as a creeping urge started to enter into her thoughts. Her throat and chest tightened as her mouth pulled into a worried frown. No, she shouldn’t be doing this. But on the other hand, what’s the harm? Good God, Bea felt like her skin was on fire. The logical part of Bea’s brain was screaming for her to sit back up and keep watching the movie, but her muscles refused. She was frozen in a limbo between head and heart it seemed.

“Just this once…” Bea assured herself as she swallowed anxiously and let out a jittery exhale.

Bea hesitantly readjusted herself from Mae’s sleepy half-cuddle and turned her body so that she could face Mae and let the cat’s arms wrap around her more easily. Mae’s hand that had previously been awkwardly laid across the blanket now instinctively grasped at her side and pulled Bea closer to her.

“O-kayyy,” Bea stuttered quietly as she eased herself into the warm feline’s embrace, carefully wrapping her arms underneath Mae’s. Bea’s breath caught in her throat as she watched tensely for any signs of Mae awakening. The feline remained in a serene slumber as her soft breathing brushed against Bea’s neck, causing the blush in her cheeks to deepen. Bea was very **_very_ ** close to Mae’s face now. Bea gave a guilty sigh as she turned away from her and pulled the blankets over their intertwined bodies.

“I guess this is happening now,” Bae assessed as her heart fluttered in her chest. Of course this was happening, Bea was letting it happen. No no, Bea wasn’t just allowing this to happen, she was taking an active role in it.

“Damn it all,” Bea cursed under her breath as she gritted her teeth. Bea couldn’t play the fool anymore, she knew exactly what was happening between her and Mae. It was the same thing that had happened between her and Oliver Kottmann the summer after she had graduated high school. Well, sort of the same thing. Bea’s summer fling with Oliver was more of an accidental romance that formed out of Bea’s grief in those difficult months, a doomed relationship from the start. Bea was okay with that though. She had known that the former exchange student would be moving back to his home country after the summer ended, so she hadn’t let herself get too attached.

Regardless of her previous awkward romance however, Bea knew this feeling and knew it well. She was smitten with the kitten.

 _Heh, that would be a phrase that Mae would certainly enjoy_ , Bea thought to herself as she nestled in comfortably under the sheets. Granted that Mae had the same feelings for her, that was. Bea was pretty certain about Mae’s interest in her, but this was all new territory for the reptile. It would definitely take a lot to make this work but… Well, she would be willing to give it a chance if Mae wanted to. Yeah. But for now, this was as far as she needed to go.

Beatrice watched Mae’s chest rise and lower with her steady breathing as she took a deep breath herself and relaxed. This was nice. More natural than her previous relationship, this was something that had developed out of the friendship they had shared. Bea let out a sigh of relief as she gently nuzzled her snout against the feline’s forehead and kissed it gently.

Mae let out a soft mewl at the touch and twitched her whiskers. Bea gave a drowsy smirk at the response and let her eyes slowly shut. Bea felt her muscles relax as her nerves settled and the tension flowed out of her body, allowing her to drift off into a restful sleep in Mae’s embrace.

<><><><><><>

 

“There’s my sleepy kitten!” Stan announced happily as Mae stumbled down the stairs in a drowsy daze.

“You were out so long I thought you might’ve died!” Stan proclaimed with a hearty chuckle.

“And you didn’t come to check on me?” Mae yawned out as she plopped down on the couch next to her father.

“Ashes to ashes and dust to dust I say,” Stan hummed out as he turned down the volume on the television.

“That’s pessimistic,” Mae idly responded as she struggled to keep her heavy eyelids from drooping down and lulling her off to sleep once more.

“Only if you think it is,” Stan retorted with a smirk and a snap of his finger as he turned his attention back to the tv, the Garbo and Malloy logo popping up on screen as the show returned from commercial break.

“Welcome back ladies and gentlemen! Isn’t love just the darndest thing, Garbo?” Malloy questioned as the camera panned over to the co-host.

“Absolutely, Malloy. Speaking of love, did you manage to hit it off last night with your dinner date?” Garbo questioned.

“You wouldn’t believe it, Garbo! The night was going great, but after dinner she stormed out of the restaurant and called me a pig!” Malloy exclaimed, wearing an exaggerated expression of hurt.

“Whoa, that’s rough buddy! What did you do?” Garbo chimed in.

“I was expecting her to cover the bill!” Malloy announced, both hosts looking to the camera and smiling at the delivery of the joke. Stan chuckled along with the laughter of the live audience as Mae let out an exhale of a laugh and shook her head with a tired grin.

“That's a whoppah!” Garbo exclaimed with a cheesy smile as they let the audience's laughter die down.

“You know, I saw my ex-wife the other day,” Garbo stated with as Malloy nodded his head.

“Really? How did that go?” Malloy questioned with a comedic look of concern.

“I was practising my tennis shots when I saw her walking down the street, and that’s when I realized it. I missed her,” Garbo said as he looked down to the ground in remorse before snapping back to the audience with a smile.

“But my aim is getting better!” Garbo jeered as the hosts flashed wide grins at the camera, the audience going into uproarious laughter and clapping.

“Haaaa,” Mae laughed weakly as her father let out a hearty chuckle beside her.

“That’s all for tonight folks! Join us next time as Garbo and I file our taxes!” Malloy announced as the tv screen cut to the show’s logo with music playing over the sound of the audience clapping.

Mae leaned her head back and closed her eyes as the sounds of commercials blared up from the television. Mae blamed the many nights as a child that her father let her stay up and watch Garbo and Malloy for her horribly cheesy sense of humor. And her dad too. It seemed like he had a dad-joke for any and every situation.

“Hey kitten,” Stan started as he gently shook Mae out of her half-sleep, ”There’s some dinner in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“Mmm, thanks dad,” Mae sleepily replied as she closed her eyes again.

“Don’t thank me, Bea is the one who cooked it up,” Stan replied as he laid his hands over his stomach.

Oh shit.

Mae jolted awake as she frantically scanned the living room for any signs of the goth croc. Finding the room vacant besides her and her father, Mae turned to her dad to address him.

“Where is BeaBea? Did she leave leave?” Mae asked as hazy memories started to float around in her head. She was watching Bea’s artsy-fartsy war documentary or whatever when she fell asleep on Bea. With Bea? Mae felt like her and Bea were cuddling at some point while she was asleep, but it was probably nothing but a fantastical dream. Probably. It was nice either way though! Mae slept really well with Bea at her side.

“Yep, I’m afraid so. She bolted after eating breakfast-dinner with us,” Stan confirmed as he took off his glasses and used his shirt to clean off a smudge.

“Whaaat?!  You guys didn’t give me the wakey-wakey for eggs and bakey?” Mae asked with incredulous look of disappointment.

“Oh we were going to, but Bea wanted to let you get your catnap in,” Stan said as he lovingly ruffled Mae’s hair with a smile. Mae groaned at the pun despite grinning at her father’s playful teasing.

“Alright, fair enough. But for future reference, don’t let me skip out on breakfast-dinner, capisce?” Mae lectured with an authoritative finger pointed at her father.

“I wouldn’t dream of it kiddo,” Stan assured with smile, “Breakfast-dinner is the most important meal of the day after all.”

“Absolutely,” Mae agreed as she hopped off the couch and made her way over to kitchen.

“You’ll like the plate Bea prepared, she made a little something special for ya,” Stan called out as Mae grasped the handle of the refrigerator door.

“Aww hell- heck yeah,” Mae corrected herself as she opened the fridge and began searching for her plate. Mae loved surprises. Except for that one time she ran into Jenna in college and the bastard tried to talk to her until she died of old age. Or when dad tried to throw Mae a surprise party in second grade, but ended up scaring her so bad she cried. And earlier today when Germ was creeping her and Bea. On second thought, maybe Mae hated surprises.

“Ah, here we are,” Mae muttered to herself as she grabbed the bagged plate from the top shelf beside the milk. Underneath the bag, Mae noticed her two sunny side up eggs cut out to look like a skull as the bacon strips acted as crossbones underneath.

“Dude! This is awesome!” Mae exclaimed as she took a moment to appreciate the punk breakfast food aesthetic before freeing the paper plate from the bag.

“She thought you’d enjoy it!” Stan declared from the living room.

“Mmm, she knows me so well,” Mae sang out with a smile as she put her meal in the microwave and began to reheat it, watching the time count down on the timer patiently.

Just one second before the countdown reached zero, Mae opened the microwave and cleared off the timer.

“Mae Borowski, professional microwave bomb diffuser at your service,” Mae muttered to herself with a smirk, carrying the now warm bacon and eggs down the hallway to the stairs.

“You wanna eat and watch some tv with me?” Stan offered as Mae passed by the doorway to the living room. Mae paused for a moment and considered the offer before shaking her head to decline.

“Nah, I think I’m gonna just eat in my room so I can shoot Bea a thank you message for the food,” Mea replied as she set her boot on the bottom step of the stairs.

“Okay kitten, sounds like a plan,” Stan said as Mae made her way up to her room, ready to chow down on a very badass dinner.


	6. Employee of the Month

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter 6, where we finally find out what Angus and Gregg have been up to in Bright Harbor! 
> 
> This chapter also has pretty heavy use of computer messaging, but I promise this will be the only chapter that features this much texting in it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37295789276/in/dateposted/)

M: [you mother fricker]

 

M: [how dare you cook breakfast foods and not wake me up for it i am offended]

 

Mae took the final bite of her eggs as her message popped up on the screen, showing that it had successfully sent. The cat set aside her plate on the night stand and set to the task of tearing off her boots. Of course, it would be easier to just untie them before taking them off, but then they’d have to be retied and untied and retied again and it would just be a huge hassle. The struggle was worth it!

“Effin’ boots,” Mae complained as she successfully removed one shoe, sending the garment flying over into a pile of dirty laundry. Smiling at her victory, the feline glanced over at her computer screen. Huh, no reply yet. Mae should probably let her know that she appreciated the extra effort that Bea put into the food, just in case she wasn’t going to be online tonight.

M: [the skull eggs were pretty badass though]

 

M: [so all is forgiven]

 

Mae finished typing up her sentence and moved onto wiggling out of her second boot. Biting her lip with concentration, Mae managed to wrestle out of her other shoe with relative ease as it plopped down next to the other boot. With a satisfied grin, Mae closed her eyes and stretched out her arms and legs across her cozy futon.

_*Ding!*_

Mae’s laptop rang out as a message appeared on screen, causing Mae to jump at the unexpected noise. Aw hell yeah, time to talk to Bea. Turning her attention to the computer, Mae felt a small pang of disappointment as she saw Bea’s chat icon vacant. Her disappointment quickly turned to excitement however as she saw a blinking dot next to Gregg’s icon. Quickly clicking on the picture of Gregg with his funky war hat, his message shot open on screen.

 

G: [YO YO YO DUDE GUESS WHAT1!!!1!!]

 

Mae smirked at the fox’s excitement and typed back a response.

 

M: [yoooooo my dude whats up?]

 

G: [I GOT STABBED TODAY AND IM IN THE HOSPITAL]

 

G: [ALSO I GOT EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH]

 

Mae’s heart sunk as she read Gregg’s message and a wave of panic rushed over her. Gregg’s in the hospital. He got stabbed. Holy shit. This is bad. Mae’s fingers set to quickly firing out a frantic response.

 

M: [dude are you like??? okay???]

 

G: [Hahaha yeah yeah yeah its all good!!@!]

 

G: [Im on some pretty wacky painkillers so I feel a bit loopy]

 

M: [what in the hell even happened???]

 

G: [Okay okay okay I know this seems bad but heres the cool part]

 

G: [I may have been stabbed]

 

G: [BUT I GOT TO STAB THE GUY BACK!!!!]

 

G: [Like 3 or 4 times I think]

 

G: [My memories a bit hazy about it]

 

G: [It was all kind of a blur lmao]

 

“Arrgghhh!” Mae exclaimed with frustration. This was not the time to be laughing people’s asses off! Unless Gregg had his ass stabbed off already! Because then he’d already have lost his ass!

 

M: [greggory miles lee please tell me that you’re okay for the love of god]

 

G: [Holy shit you pulled out the full name]

 

G: [Its not that bad I promise lol]

 

M: [is somebody with you???]

 

G: [ANGUSSS!!!]

 

Mae let out a sigh of relief before giving a nervous laugh. Thank God Angus was there, he’s much better at handling these types of situations.

 

M: [can i talk to angus real quick?]

 

G: [Yeah!!!! Good idea!! My whole body is tingling and I’m really tired hahaha!!!]

 

G: [Ill tell him to get on!!!]

 

M: [thanks my dude, also congrats on employee of the month!]

 

G: [THANKSD!!! I GOT IT FOR STABBING SOMEONE!!!]

 

Though Mae was wrought with worry, she couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of Gregg’s response. There was definitely a very interesting story behind this that Mae absolutely needed to hear. And despite the serious situation, Mae was amused by Gregg’s typing. She could almost hear his voice through the loopy drug induced text on the screen. Actually now that Mae thought about it, seeing Gregg on painkillers would be hilarious. She’d have to see if Angus would be willing to take a video for her. Mmm, probably not.

A small ding sounded from Mae’s computer as a blinking dot appeared next to Angus’ icon. Sweet, hopefully he’d be able to shed some light on the situation.

 

A: [Hello Mae. Everything is okay. Gregg’s injury he got from the confrontation is fairly minor, thankfully he just has to get a few stitches on his arm. It was a slash wound and not a stab wound, just to clarify.]

 

M: [okay okay good]

 

M: [so like what even happened??]

 

A: [Gregg says he wants to tell you the story next time he sees you, but he stopped a mugging as he was taking out the trash at work.]

 

M: [whoa!!! gregg’s a hero!!!]

 

A: [That’s my Bug, I’m very proud of him! :) ]

 

Mae chuckled at Angus’ message. There was something inherently awkward about seeing the bear’s punctual and neat writing ending with a smiley face.

 

A: [Okay, the doctors are getting ready to apply the stitches, so I’ve got to go. Gregg wants you over to visit at your earliest convenience. He says he wants you to message him to make plans. He also says that he misses you. And he called you a “loser”. Farewell Mae, have a pleasant night.]

 

M: [bye angus!]

 

Mae clicked off of Angus’ icon and flopped back onto her futon with a huff. Wow. And Mae thought that she had been having a wild day already. Good thing Gregg was pretty good with a knife, or that fight would’ve ended much more tragically. Ugh, Mae didn’t even want to think about that possibility. At least Gregg was safe.

A notification noise played out from Mae’s laptop, grabbing her attention. Hey, this time it was BeaBea! Clicking on Bea’s icon, Mae watched as the lizard’s message appeared on the screen.

 

B: [Anything to earn your favor, my highness.]

 

M: [yo bea sarcasm doesnt transfer well over text silly]

 

B: [Who said I was being sarcastic? I live to serve.]

 

Mae giggled at Bea’s message with distracted smile. Oh Bea, even now your sarcasm drips like a bloodied knife. Oh shit, Bea should probably know about Gregg’s situation. She was going to need a ride up to Bright Harbor to see Gregg. And Bea could visit Angus too!

 

M: [yeah thats what it feels like most days lol]

 

M: [hey did you hear that gregg had to go to the hospital today??]

 

B: [What happened?]

 

M: [he stopped a mugging and got stabbed!!]

 

M: [or slashed i guess would be more accurate]

 

M: [hes totally okay though!!!]

 

B: [Damn, that’s actually pretty impressive.]

 

M: [i know right??!?]

 

M: [gregg wants us to come up and visit]

 

M: [which is gonna be difficult]

 

M: [because you work like every day]

 

M: [ :( ]

 

B: [Actually, I have some weird news for you.]

 

B: [I left your house so I could go cook dinner for my dad, but when I got home, he left me a note on the table saying that he got invited out to have drinks with some friends at Miller’s.]

 

M: [ur dad has friends??]

 

B: [Margaret Borowski, don’t be fucking rude.]

 

M: [sorry]

 

B: [Whatever.]

 

B: [Anyways, I called him to make sure that everything was okay.]

 

B: [You know, given his past.]

 

Mae looked over the message anxiously as she drummed her fingers against her laptop. Bea had mentioned that Mr. Santello struggled with heavy alcoholism during the summer after her mom died, but she never went into anymore detail than that. Mae had her suspicions that something drastic had to have happened for a person as low as Mr. Santello to stop drinking. Likely something similar to why her dad quit drinking.

Mae never pried about the situation, but she was almost certain that there was a damn good reason for Bea to be scared of her father going out for drinks. Anger boiled deep in the pit of Mae’s stomach as she clenched her fist. If that bastard ever lifted a hand to Bea while Mae was around, she would personally shear off each of his limbs with a rusty knife and soak his wounds with acid.

 

B: [When I called, it actually sounded like he was having fun for once. It was weird. I haven’t heard him laugh in nearly two years, and yet he laughed while he was talking to me.]

 

B: [Then in the middle of our conversation, he gave me some pretty exciting news.]

 

M: [whats the scoop snoop]

 

B: [I have a schedule now!]

 

B: [And please never say that phrase again.]

 

M: [but i gotta stay hip and fresh with the youths]

 

M: [dawg]

 

B: [I will come over to your house and forcefully disassemble your computer if you keep talking like that.]

 

M: [darn]

 

M: [it was fun while it lasted]

 

M: [also why is having a schedule a good thing]

 

B: [It means that I have actual scheduled days off now.]

 

Mae felt an overwhelming sense of excitement bubbling up inside her chest as she read Bea’s message. She has days off! She can live a normal life now! Sort of normal at least! And now they can go visit Gregg and Angus in Bright Harbor! This is freaking awesome!

 

M: [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

 

M: [whens your first day off????]

 

B: [Tuesday.]

 

M: [i have that day off too!!!!]

 

M: [we gotta go visit angus and gregg tuesday!!!!]

 

B: [Did you check to see if they were available that day?]

 

M: [nope!!!]

 

B: [You should probably do that first before we make any plans. No point in making a 3 hour drive to visit an empty house.]

 

M: [okay!]

 

B: [I’ve gotta head off to bed so I can get enough sleep to open the store tomorrow, but I had fun today. So thanks for that.]

 

M: [anytime bb]

 

B: [Shoot me a message once you get a verdict about going to Bright Harbor Tuesday. G’night Mayday.]

 

M: [night beabea]

 

Mae closed her warm laptop and set it down underneath the futon. Gregg and Angus were probably going to be dealing with a pretty long night already, so Mae decided that she’d text them tomorrow to make plans.

As for her, Mae decided that she should probably get some sleep too. Getting up in early in the morning to go to work was really taking a toll on her sleep schedule, so she was gonna take every chance she had to get back as much sleep as possible.

Grabbing her blanket from underneath her, Mae let out a tired yawn and threw the blanket over her body as she tucked herself in. Mae’s eyes closed as she peacefully drifted off into a deep sleep, her thoughts bouncing between the events of the day and the plans for the future.


	7. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry that this chapter took a while to get written up, but hopefully the wait has been worth it! This chapter switches viewpoints from Mae to Bea part of the way through, but it's marked by "<><><><><><>" symbols, so it should be easier to see transition between the two. 
> 
> Also, things are starting to heat up in both the romance and the story! 
> 
> That's about all I have to say. Enjoy!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37336172332/in/dateposted/)

The days seemed to creep by painfully slow as Mae anxiously awaited for the arrival of Tuesday. Having settled plans with Gregg and Angus, the only thing left to do was wait. And Mae hated waiting. With a burning passion. Today was only Sunday, which meant that she’d have one more day to wait through after today. Ugh.

“Thanks, have a good one,” Bea responded as she finished ringing up the last customer in the store, the door bell ringing as they exited.

“You almost done sweeping, Mae?” Bea called out as she reached into the drawer underneath the register and grabbed the store keys.

“Yeah, let me just throw out this dirt real quick!” Mae announced as she quickly used the faded broom to usher the dirt pile that laid at her feet into the dustpan.

“Alright cool, ‘cause I’ve gotta get home pretty quick tonight,” Bea mentioned as she made her way over to the doors, the footsteps from her heavy boots echoing loudly through the empty store. Mae grabbed the dustpan off the floor and leaned back past one of the aisles to shoot Bea a questioning stare.

“Got some sort of hot date tonight or something?” Mae teased as she gave a sleazy grin. Bea rolled her eyes with a smirk as she locked the doors and gave them a tug to make sure they were secure.

“Totally. If you’d consider discussing business details over dinner with my father to be a hot date,” Bea remarked sarcastically as she reached over the counter to shut the drawer she had left open. Mae dumped the dustpan into a nearby trashcan with a couple of hearty taps against the side of the bin before glancing up at Bea with a raised eyebrow.

“Wait, is that where Mr. Santello ran off to? I thought he was in the office doing paperwork,” Mae said with a disappointed frown. Darn it, she was going to see if he was interested in helping her dad with the unionizing stuff. Though Mae wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of Mr. Santello, her dad was apparently pretty good pals with him when Mae and Bea were in scouts together. Her dad suggested the idea when Mae had mentioned that Mr. Santello was starting to work at the Ol' Pickaxe again.

“Nah, he left about an hour ago to cook dinner,” Bea explained as she snagged her and Mae’s jackets off of the coat rack. Damn, he was cooking now too?! At this rate, Mr. Santello might actually be able to function like a real adult for like a solid day or two!

“Hey, good for him! Got room for a third?” Mae proposed as she opened the janitor’s closet and deposited the broom and dustpan inside. Bea let out a small laugh as she shook her head.

“I’m going to spare you the pain of sifting through hours of paperwork and let you do your own thing tonight,” Bea replied as she handed Mae’s jacket to her and slipped into her own, the brown overcoat covering the reptile’s black garments. Mae let out a whiny groan as she reluctantly stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her jacket.

“Aww man, then I’m gonna be boooooorrrreeeeeed,” Mae complained as she gave Bea exaggerated puppy-eyes. Bea averted her gaze from Mae’s with a smirk as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her coat pocket and smacked the box against her hand a couple of times.

“You know, I did leave those movies back over at your place,” Bea started as she pushed open the back door to the Ol' Pickaxe, “You should really watch ‘The Mortal Fates’ since you fell asleep last time. It’s a super good movie!”

Mae rolled her eyes as she followed Bea out of the door, putting on her gloves as the setting sun surrendered its heat to the approaching dusk.

“Bea, I’m not really into to war documentaries,” Mae countered as the crocodile set to locking up the back doors, placing a cigarette to rest unlit between her lips.

“It’s not a documentary, it’s a paranormal thriller,” Bea corrected with an gloating grin, pulling a lighter from her pocket and lighting the cig in her mouth as Mae’s ears immediately perked up to attention. Well shit, now she was interested.

“Wait, really? Why didn’t you tell me before I got tired of the old-timey setting!” Mae said with exasperation. She totally would’ve stayed awake if she had known that there’d be monsters and ghosts involved!

Bea gave a devious grin as her sharp teeth glinted in the light of the sunset, a puff of smoke exhaling from her nostrils as she turned to the cat. Mae felt a shiver of excitement flow through her body as Bea bared her teeth at her. Not that she had probably meant to do it, but with the determined look in her eyes, the lit cigarette, and the powerful toothy smirk aimed at the feline, Bea looked pretty badass… Aaaaand really hot. Like, damn.

“Hah, that would’ve ruined the whole point of me trying to watch the movie with you,” Bea started with a smug grin as the pair started to make their way back to their respective houses. “That was going to be the payoff of the film for ya if you would've kept watching.”

Mae had to almost physically shake herself back to reality as she struggled to make a coherent response.

“Uhh haha, yeah!” Mae agreed absentmindedly as she tore her eyes off of Bea. Jesus Mae, you could at least **_try_ ** to keep that shit subtle. Bea smiled softly as she closed her eyes and took a long drag from her cigarette, blowing out a puff of smoke in a small sigh of satisfaction. Huh. Mae always wondered why people smoked cigarettes. She had never had one herself, but Bea seemed to enjoy the experience of smoking.

“Heeeeyyy BeaBea,” Mae said as she addressed the girl beside her, her navy eyes gliding to Mae as she responded by raising her eyebrows silently.

“Would it be like… weird for me to ask to try a cigarette?” Mae questioned as Bea gave a bewildered look of concern to the cat.

“I mean yeah sure, I don’t care. But… why?” Bea replied with an interrogative stare towards Mae.

“I’m just curious to try it is all. There’s gotta be a reason people like smoking right?” Mae said as she gave a half smile to the croc.

“Ehh, it helps me relax and relieve some stress. But other than that, it’s mostly an addictive habit,” Bea explained as she took another drag from her cigarette, flicking the stick in between her fingers before offering the butt end to Mae.

“It’ll get hot when you suck in, so be careful,” Bea instructed, passing off the cigarette to Mae as the warm butt rested in between her fingers. Lifting the drug to her lips, Mae cautiously inhaled as a burning smoke flooded her mouth and invaded her lungs. Mae nearly choked as she instantly coughed out the offending smoke in her body, much to Bea’s amusement.

“ _God, that was horrible!_ ” Mae barely managed to wheeze out as she shoved the cigarette back at Bea, eager to get the cancer stick away from her. Bea let out cute chuckle as she took the stick back, finishing it off before discarding it on the ground and stomping it out.

“Ahh what a pity. Guess you’ll have to find another vice to get addicted to,” Bea teased with a sarcastic shrug of her shoulders.

 _“You could be my vice,”_ Mae thought with a smile. Nah, that’d be too cheesy. And kinda mean. Gotta ease into the flirting stage if she didn’t want to make this super awkward. But then again, Mae wasn’t exactly a smooth talker when it came to romantic encounters. Yeesh, she remembered last the last time she tried to flirt with another girl... Mae would never be able to look at spaghetti the same way again.

“Is food a vice?” Mae questioned as she poked at her plump stomach through her jacket. Man, she really could stand to lose a few pounds. And then a few more on top of that. Can people burn calories through anxious leg-bouncing? Mae tended to do that a lot whenever she was sitting around and waiting. 

“I dunno, can be for some people I suppose,” Bae distractedly replied as she brought her hands to her snout and gingerly huffed her warm breath into her hands and rubbed them together.

“Leave your gloves somewhere?” Mae inferred as she watched Bea try to warm her hands.

“Ugh, yeah. I washed them yesterday and forgot to put them back into my pocket,” Bea complained with an annoyed frown.

“Here, you can take one of these if ya want,” Mae replied as she reached her hand out towards Bea. Bea’s face flashed with surprise as she gave an awkward smile.

“Uhh… Sure..” Bea accepted cautiously as she rested her scaly hand over Mae’s gloved one. Mae gave an innocent smile as she waited for Bea to take the glove off her hand. Aaaaaand now Bea was squeezing her hand. That’s sweet of her, but...

Mae flashed a confused look to the lizard as Bea held Mae’s hand like it was a fragile art piece she was handed and didn’t know what to do with it.

“You uhh, gonna take the glove or…?” Mae questioned with as she watched a part of Bea’s soul leave her body as she flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh. You meant the glove. Right,” Bea croaked out in a whisper as both of the girl’s faces began to blush at the realization of what had just happened. Oh wow. That’s not what Mae meant when she offered her hand over to Bea. Holy shit. Bea had totally intended on holding her hand. HOLY. SHIT.

There was momentary pause between the pair as they stood in a stunned silence looking at each other awkwardly. Before Mae even had time to think, her body jumped into action as she quickly tore one of the gloves off her hand and wrapped it around Bea’s.

“I like your idea better,” Mae said with an ecstatic smile. Bea’s scale’s were cool and smooth against Mae’s fur (and a little clammy too), Bea’s hand holding a familiar weight as Mae gave it testing squeeze.

“Whatever,” Bea replied as she returned to her nonchalant facade, her eyes deadset forward with determination. After taking a few more steps, Bea returned the squeeze. Mae’s eyes lit up at the response, and she could scarcely keep herself from jumping with excitement. Instead, Mae let her spirits soar as she continued this limit testing game of how far Bea was willing to go with holding hands.

After a few more rounds of returning squeezes and running her thumb over the side of Bea’s hand, Bea shifted her hand and wordlessly slipped her fingers in between Mae’s. The feline’s breath hitched in her throat as she struggled against the joyous giddy giggle that was rising from her core.

This was… amazing. Mae felt silly for being so hyped up about holding hands, but something about sharing the moment with Bea made it so damn special. Maybe it was because Bea was never very open about displaying affection, or because Mae never would’ve thought that in a million years she’d have a chance to be romantically involved with Beatrice Santello. Mae didn’t care either way. Though it was only a seemingly insignificant show of affection, it was something that the two shared together. Now Mae knew that this might be something that they both wanted.

Bea’s footsteps slowed as they reached the door to the apartment complex that she lived in. Setting one boot on the steps that led up the door, Bea hesitated as she faced forward, her fingers still intertwined with Mae’s. After a few moments, the reptile removed her boot from the step and turned to Mae.

Bea’s navy eyes looked deeply into Mae’s ruby ones as she tenderly lifted up Mae’s free hand and laced their fingers together. Mae couldn’t help but flash a smile so big that it almost hurt her cheeks. Their eyes remained locked onto one another as Mae tried to get a read on what Bea was thinking. She could see Bea working something out as they stared at each other, smiling.

‘So,” Bea started as she leaned slightly closer to Mae.

“Soooo?” Mae questioned, looking up at Bea with hopeful anticipation dancing in her eyes as she nervously bit her lip. Bea detached one of her hands from Mae’s and lifted it to her cheek, the reptile’s fingers combing through her fur as Mae gave a satisfied purr and let her eyelids droop down with pleasure. Mae was absolutely starstruck. She had no idea what in the world Bea was planning, but she was too caught up in the moment to even give a shit.

Bea’s eyes closed as her lips quickly pressed against the tufts of dyed hair that rested on Mae’s head. The reptile pulled back from the forehead kiss with a toothy grin as she gave a gentle pat against Mae’s cheek.

“I’ll catch you around, Mayday,” Bea stated with a satisfied smile as she spun on her heel and rushed up the stairs to the door. Mae snapped out of her state of stunned shock as she broke into a massive grin.

“Bye BeaBea!” Mae shouted, all the jittery energy that had pent up inside of her from the exchange exploding out as she set off on a dead sprint back to her house.

“Hey! Don’t forget to watch the movie!” Beatrice called out in the distance as Mae twirled and gave a succession of excited fist pumps into the air.

“Yeah yeah yeah! I will! Bye!” Mae yelled back as she flipped back around and bounded with running steps out of sight from Bea’s apartment without waiting for a reply. She felt like she could lift off from the ground and just fly away at any moment. Mae never wanted this feeling to go away.

<><><><><><>

Bea watched as Mae sprinted down the street before flinging open the door to her house and bolting inside. Bea let out a tense breath that she hadn’t known she was holding as she looked down at down at her hands. They were tingling with excitement. Not just the hands, but her whole body too. And her head even more so.

Bea gave a longing look at the warm orange lights that poured out of Mae’s cozy little country home before opening the door to her apartment complex. What she wouldn’t give to be over there with Mae and not here doing business. But the business needed done, and for once she was getting some help with it.

Bea’s boots sounded heavily against the worn tile stairs as she made her way up to the apartment. Bea approached the door, lifting her head as a delicious smell drifted into her nose from somewhere in the apartment. Steak. Well, at least someone in this shithole would be eating well tonight.

Bea plunged her key into the lock and opened the door, only to be greeted with the gourmet smell of finely cooked meal wafting from their very own kitchen. Bea felt her mouth water as the scent grew stronger. There was no way that was coming from their apartment. Bea hasn’t eaten something that smelled this good in at least half a decade.

Closing the door behind her, Bea removed her coat and set it on the rack before peeking her head curiously around the corner and into the kitchen. Her dad was set to work carefully pouring a second glass of wine into a glass with a gold-plated base. On the kitchen island sat two plates with glorious cuts of filet mignon with a side of potatoes and steamed asparagus.

“Hey Beatrice, welcome home,” Mr. Santello remarked as he caught Bea staring at the food that had been prepared. Jumping a little at welcoming, Bea shuffled into the kitchen and looked around dumbfounded at the specially prepared dinner in front of her.

“What is all this for?” Bea asked incredulously as Mr. Santello corked the bottle of wine and sat it between the two plates. How did they even have enough money to afford something this nice?

“Dinner an’ business,” Mr. Santello replied simply with a hint of a smile as he sat down on his side of the table and motioned for Beatrice to do the same.

“I mean yeah, but…” Bea said as she pointed to the dinner plates and glasses of wine.

“What’s with all this fancy food? And wine? You know that I’m not 21 yet, right?” Bea interrogated as she hovered by her stool, too weary of the strange situation to let herself sit down and relax. Something was fishy here.

Mr. Santello gave a knowing nod as a frown spread across his face.

“It ain’t a paper an’ taxes kinda business that we’re goin’ over tonight,” the older croc said as he took his knife and cut into the juicy steak.

“It’s the kinda uncomfortable business people like to pretend don’t exist. So I made some comfort food, helps balance out the conversation.”

Bea gave a suspicious look to her father as she took a seat and kept her eyes on her parent as she sliced open her steak.

“Okay. Let’s get down to business then,” Bea replied as she slipped the piece of steak into her mouth and chewed on it slowly before swallowing. It was medium rare and packed full of flavorful spices that had soaked into the meat. Must’ve been marinated. Impressive work.

“See that bottle a’ wine there?” Mr. Santello questioned as he pointed his fork towards the wine bottle that sat between the two. Bea nodded as she studied the label. “Melrose Melodies” the label read in a fancy font underneath a minimalistic rendering of a goose.

“Your mother an’ I… We bought that bottle a’ wine three years ago. To celebrate when you graduated high school,” Mr. Santello said with a hollow voice as looked down at his glass distantly. Bea’s emotions wrenched at the mention of her mother, the greatest woman to have ever been in Bea’s life. Memories flooded back into her mind as grief gripped at her heart.

“She was always so proud of you Beatrice. We both were. She wanted nothing more than the best for you,” Mr. Santello continued as his voice became heavy and strained. Bea struggled to hold it together as she set to cutting at the meat to distract herself from the heavy lump that was forming in her throat.

“She knew. A week before she passed… She held my hand an’ made me make a promise to her.” Mr. Santello whispered huskily. Bea’s hands began to tremble as she kept her eyes locked onto her plate, her vision going blurry from the moisture building up in her eyes.

“She made me promise that I’d do everythin’ in my power to make a good life for ya. She said that you were the best thing that’s ever happened to her,” Mr. Santello choked out as a set of tears began to stream down his face from his tired eyes. Bea’s lip quivered as she clenched her fists and failed to contain the burning tears that streaked across her cheeks.

“Those were her last words,” Mr. Santello whispered solemnly as his wet mourning gaze pierced through Bea. This time, she didn’t try to fight the tears. Loud sobs poured out of her throat as she buried her head in her hands and cried bitterly. The world took her away so fast. Bea never even had the chance to say goodbye. To tell her how much she loved her.

It was a long time before Bea was able to gain her composure back and let her sobbing die down. Mr. Santello wiped his eyes off with his dinner napkin and Bea mirrored his actions. Letting out a shaky sigh, Bea picked up her wine and took a few greedy gulps from the glass. The wine was exceptionally fruity and fizzed in her mouth as she downed most of her glass. It actually tasted pretty damn good. Perfect for drowning out the sorrows of loss. Mr. Santello watched with mild concern as Bea finished off her glass, but he remained silent as he took a generous sip of his own.

“I know I haven’t been anythin’ more than a burden to ya for the past two years,” Mr. Santello started as he poked at the asparagus on his plate.

“An’ I’m not expectin’ to be forgiven for it either. But I made a promise. A promise I’m intendin’ on keepin’,” Mr. Santello said as he set an envelope on the table and pushed it over to Bea.

“What is this?” Bea said quietly, her voice hoarse from crying.

“Your mom an’ I had a little college fund going for ya your senior year,”  Mr. Santello stated as Bea took the letter. It had “Beatrice” written on it in blue ink. She recognized the handwriting. It was her mother’s. She opened the envelope wordlessly as a plastic bank card fell onto the table.

“It’s not much, but that card will getcha access to the money,” Mr. Santello said as Bea picked up the card and studied it with disbelief. All these years, college had been an impossible dream. And yet here she was, holding a card that contained funds for her to chase those very dreams she’d thought to be unreachable.

Bea was a torrent of emotions. She was overjoyed at the prospect of being able to attend college, and yet at the same time she was furious that her father had kept this information from her the whole time, and still saddened by the fresh wave of pain that come from discussing her mother’s death. But Bea was too exhausted and drained to act on any of her conflicting emotions. Instead, she made a brief motion to the bottle of wine for permission to take another glass. Mr. Santello nodded.

“So why are you doing all of this now?” Bea questioned as she tipped the bottle into her glass and watched the fruity wine fill the space in her glass that was previously empty.

“There’s a number a’ reasons,” Mr. Santello admitted as he stroked his chin.

“Biggest one’d have to be your friend Margaret.”

Bea shot a confused look at her father as she sat down the bottle and sank her spoon into the potatoes to take a bite. The potatoes were less professional than the steak, still tasting as if they came from a box. But not too shabby otherwise.

“What does she have to do with anything?” Bea asked as she stared skeptically at her father, a small smile forming on his lips.

“One a’ the nights I came down to help in the store, she stormed into the office when I was doin’ some paperwork,” Mr. Santello said with a reminiscent smile.

“She slammed her first on the desk and demanded that I start takin’ over responsibility for the store so that you could start focusin’ on your own future,” Mr. Santello said as Bea groaned with secondhand embarrassment. Goddamn it Mae.

“Of course, I was furious. I told her that I did more work than she could ever handle, and she told me that she could do a week's worth a’ my work in one night,” Mr. Santello stated as Bea shook her head incredulously.

“What did you say?” Bea asked as she stuffed some asparagus into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. A bit overcooked, but definitely seasoned properly to cover that mistake up.

“I said if that’s how disrespectful she was going to be to me, then she shouldn’t bother showin’ up to work ever again.” Bea’s eyes went wide with astonishment.

“You fired her?” Bea exclaimed as she gulped down another drink of the wine. Mr. Santello nodded before continuing.

“I’d been intendin’ to. But sure enough, when I went to the office the next morning to file her termination papers, all the paperwork for the next week had been finished. Neatly filed away and even alphabetized,” Mr. Santello said with a defeated smile.

“I don’t know how she managed to do it, but when I stepped out into the store, she was already workin’ hard at wipin’ off the counter. Our eyes met, and she flipped me off before goin’ back to cleanin,” Mr. Santello said with a grin as he leaned back into his chair and took another sip of his wine.

“I immediately shredded the termination papers. I realized at that moment that if she was that dedicated to helpin’ you pursue your dreams, then it was about time that your own father got off his lazy ass and started doin’ somethin’ too,” Mr. Santello said wistfully as he swirled the wine in his cup and looked at Beatrice.

“Startin’ tomorrow I’ll be back full time at the Ol' Pickaxe. You can drop to part time if ya want, so you can focus on lookin’ for somewhere to go to college. I'll focus on keepin’ us housed and fed,” Mr. Santello stated as Bea looked down thoughtfully at her plate. This was all so sudden. So many doors had opened all at once, Bea was overwhelmed. And also a little tipsy. But she was happy. Things were finally about to change in her life. And this time, the change would be for the better.

“This is… A lot,” Bea announced unceremoniously as she laughed.

“I’ll need time to really let this all sink in but… Thanks, dad,” Bea said awkwardly as she gave a soft smile to her father. He returned the polite gesture with a smile of his own as he nodded. The two ate in silence for the rest of the meal. Bea cleared her plate and finished off her glass of wine long before her father had gotten through his meal. Bea was definitely starting to feel a buzz. But hey, she was free now. Might as well let loose and have fun for a night.

Heeeyyy. Bea knew someone who was great at getting loose and having fun! Mae Borowski! But she was also really bad with alcohol. Eh, fuck it. Bea would deal with any consequences later. She was gonna have a good time tonight.

“Hey, you uh… Mind if I take the rest of this? I’ve got a friend who I’d like to celebrate with,” Bea asked with an uncomfortable smile as she pointed to the wine bottle.

“No drivin’,” Mr. Santello advised as he pushed the bottle towards Bea, her hand clasping around the chilly glass firmly. Alright, looks like it’s time to get this plan in action. Bea excused herself from the table and set her plate in the sink as she went off to her room, bottle of wine in hand. This was definitely going to be an interesting night, Bea was sure of that much. 


	8. Carved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter is very exciting and fluff-filled, so I'm not gonna spoil too much of it!
> 
> Instead, I'd like to take a moment and thank you guys so much for your continued support while I'm writing this story. I've been out of practice with my writing for a while, so it's super uplifting and encouraging to hear that so many people like my silly little story!
> 
> I never expected this much attention and support, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much! You guys are awesome!!! :D

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/159626247@N06/37438350626/in/photostream/)

Mae watched her computer screen with a satisfied smile as the credits for “The Mortal Fates” rose up from the bottom of the screen, accompanied by soft piano music. Bea was right, the movie was actually pretty darn good. After the shadow monsters appear that is. The 20 minutes of plot dumping and old timey drama that happened before the monsters come in nearly set Mae to sleep again.

As Mae watched the plain white credits play across the screen, she heard a distinct ding sound from the laptop. Shoot, Mae would have to pay her respects to the special effects artist another day. Closing out of the movie, Mae hovered her mouse over Bea’s chat icon as a warm tingling of excitement rose up from her gut. Smiling at the memories of tonight’s previous events, Mae clicked the icon and Bea’s message expanded across the screen.

 

B: [Heeeyyyy Mayday you still awake?]

 

M: [yeah!! whats up?]

 

B: [Great!]

 

B: [Ive got some good news to tell you]

 

B: [Meet me in the old abandoned parkk]

 

M: [the off limits one? this late at night?]

 

M: [i mean i of course have no problem with it]

 

M: [im just surprised that you dont have an issue with it lol]

 

B: [I may or may not have had a little to drink tonight]

 

Mae frowned at the sentence that appeared on her screen. Bea was drinking? She literally never ever got drunk. Even when they had went to the party together, Bea had scarcely drank half a glass of the watered down beer. This was either a really good thing or a really bad thing to have her be drinking. She did say that she had good news for Mae though, so hopefully she was drinking in celebration.

 

M: [how much is a little?]

 

B: [Two glasses of wine. Its veryy fruity tastes pretty good]

 

M: [ooooohhhhh someones living the high life]

 

B: [Ehh a little bit]

 

B: [Its a long story, I’ll tell you at the park]

 

M: [okay beabea ill meet you there]

 

M: [dont stumble off and get lost on the way]

 

M: [drunkie ;) ]

 

B: [Screw you I barely feell a buzz]

 

M: [pssssh whatever]

 

B: [Ssssssshut up]

 

B: [Okay Im leaving now]

 

B: [See you soon]

 

M: [bye bye beabea!!!!]

 

Mae clicked off of the chat and closed her laptop, setting it at the edge her bed. She stood up and brushed herself off in preparation. Alright! Mae had never experienced a drunk Bea, so this ought to be interesting. Mae rushed down the stairs as the sounds of the tv playing in the living room grew louder with each step. Reaching the base of the stairs, Mae grabbed her orange jacket and made her way to the living room. A commercial for an extra sharp kitchen knife was playing, the spokesperson cutting through a shoe before proceeding to slice up ingredients for a salad.

“Eww, shoe salad,” Mae commented as Stan glanced up at her with a smile.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Stan joked, turning down the volume on the tv. Glancing down at the jacket in Mae’s arms and then back to her, Stan asked, “Heading out somewhere kitten?”

“Yep! Bea wanted to hang out,” Mae said without any further explanation.

“Alright, have fun and don’t die,” Stan commented as he returned to the television.

“I’ll try not to! Love ya dad!” Mae called out as she tossed on her jacket and made her way out the door.

“Love you too kitten!” Stan called back before Mae closed the front door to their house with a small click.

Mae inhaled the crisp night air before letting it out in a pleased sigh. Mae wasn’t sure if winter necessarily had a smell, but as she breathed in the cold air, she definitely was getting a whiff of winter. They were predicting a pretty big snowstorm after Thursday, which for Possum Springs meant that school would be cancelled indefinitely until the road crews came to plow the snow. Or until the more likely scenario where a few people with trucks get tired of waiting and attach plows to their vehicles to clear it themselves.

Sticking her hands in her pockets, Mae walked towards the old park. Crossing over the bridge that led into the dying town felt somehow strange to Mae. She’d never really been over this bridge at night. It was eerily quiet... And lonely. The wooden boards creaked underneath Mae’s feet as she crossed, the soft sounds penetrating into the otherwise silent night. It almost felt as if the bridge’s lonely creaking was asking Mae to stay and keep it company. Maybe some other night, bridge.

The old playground came into sight as Mae stepped off the bridge, a small orange glow dimly illuminating a figure sitting on one of the numbered stumps. Smoke exhaled from the person’s mouth, the glow of the cigarette dancing across the smoke’s outline. Mae gave a smirk as she made her way over to the edge of the fence, the shape of Bea’s figure glancing up when Mae addressed her.

“Psst! Hi BeaBea!” Mae whispered rather loudly. Bea stood up and walked over to the fence, the glow from the cigarette lighting up their faces as she approached. Her teeth glinted as she briefly flashed a warm smile.

“Mae, there’s no point of whispering if you’re gonna be that loud,” Bea remarked, a slight slur and heaviness apparent in her voice. Mae gave a lopsided smile of worry at her friend. She certainly was as witty and sarcastic as ever, but the evidence of Bea’s drinking was pretty clear in her voice.

“How’d you even get in here?” Mae questioned as her fingers wrapped around the holes in the fence and gave it a gentle tug. The fence was definitely as secure as Mae remembered it being the night she came home, and it didn’t look like there was any way to get over the fence nearby. Bea let out a nearly inaudible chuckle, a smirk spreading across her lips before she responded.

“I walked through the fence,” Bea stated matter-of-factly, as if the feat of teleporting through solid walls was an everyday occurrence.

“You just… walked through this fence? This solid, chain link fencing?” Mae questioned as Bea took another huff of her cigarette, still sporting a shit-eating grin that made it obvious that Bea was messing with her.

“It’s like those old kids books, you just gotta believe hard enough and you can slip right through,”  Bea lied with a suppressed laugh. Mae rolled her eyes and gave a dry chuckle. Well, at the very least Bea was having fun with herself. Silence sat between the two for a brief moment before Bea cleared her throat.

“There’s a ladder over here,” Bea said after taking the last hit of her cig and stomping it out on the leaves beneath her. Bea started shuffling over to the far side of the playground with her hand gripping onto the fence for extra stability. Mae dutifully followed behind Bea on the other side of the fence, keeping a careful eye on her unsteady steps. It was weird acting as the watchful guardian for Bea. Usually it was the other way around.

“Ow! Shit!” Mae yelped out as her foot slammed into a something metal, sending the feline hurtling to the ground. So much for making sure Bea wasn’t gonna trip over anything, Mae could hardly keep an eye out for herself!

“Heeeeey there it is!” Bea announced as she crouched down and observed the ladder.

“Sorry Mae, I guess the damn thing must’ve fallen after I got done with it. Are you okay?” Bea asked with uncharacteristic tenderness. Mae rubbed at her foot with a groan before standing up and dusting herself off. Her poor toes were throbbing with pain, but she’d live.

“All good here, Captain,” Mae answered. Bea flashed a smile of relief before pointing to the ladder.

“Alright, good. Go ahead and climb over,” Bea instructed. Mae picked up the ladder and shook off the leaves before leaning it against the fence. Placing her foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, Mae gave it a testing shove. The ladder wobbled faintly in response, but remained upright and secure. Seems safe enough.

“Why was there even a ladder out here?” Mae questioned as she began scaling the ladder over the unnecessarily tall fence.

“Construction, probably,” Bea replied plainly, her eyes watching Mae as she climbed up the ladder and reached the top of the fence. Mae looked around curiously for a way down into the playground.

“Hey uh Bea… How did you get down from here?” Mae questioned with a worried frown. Bea put her hands on her hips and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Mae.

“I climbed down the fence?” Bea said with a sarcastic tone.

“If you could climb down the fence, why didn’t you climb up it?” Mae asked as she hopped off the ladder and sat down on the fence, letting her legs dangle idly off the edge.

“Climbing down the fence is a whole lot easier than climbing up,” Bea replied.

“You coming down or what?” Bea commented impatiently. Mae tapped her fingers against her knees as she looked away from Bea self-conciously.

“Hahaha, I’m uh… not limber enough to climb down this fence,” Mae responded with a sheepish smile.

“Well, just hop down then,” Bea ordered with outstretched arms. “I’ll catch ya.”

Mae instantly fired a skeptical glare at Bea’s arms.

“Are you suuuuuure?” Mae questioned as she leaned towards Bea, ready to jump.

“Yeah. Now c’mon down,” Bea answered, putting her arms upwards in preparation to catch the cat. Mae hopped off the fence and landed directly into Bea’s arms, letting out a small gasp of surprise as Bea gripped onto her and stumbled backwards. Steadying her motion, Bea gave a strained exhale as she set Mae delicately down onto her feet, releasing her from her iron grip.

“Whoa. Damn Bea. You’re… really strong,” Mae remarked, wide eyed with admiration at her reptilian friend. Bea brushed off the compliment with a dismissive wave of her hand, though there was pride in her voice when she spoke.

“Yeah, years of physical labor can do that to a person,” Bea retorted with a smirk. Now that Mae was on the other side of the fence, she noticed that there was a small backpack strapped over one of Bea’s shoulders.

“Whatcha got there?” Mae asked curiously as she pointed a finger at the bag. Bea flaunted a smug smile at the question and started walking towards the old boat.

“Follow me and I’ll show ya!” Bea said with excitement creeping into her voice. Mae felt a smile spread across her lips as she tailed behind the eager lizard. This was kinda nice just seeing Bea being all excited and happy like this. Though she was probably only more loosey-goosey because of the booze, it was cool to see what an unfiltered Bea was like.

Reuniting next to the faded painting of Mr. Snorkles the Octopus, Bea plopped down against the wooden boat and patted the ground next to her, inviting Mae to take a seat. Mae accepted the offer graciously, sitting down and letting her arms wrap behind her head as she leaned back and made herself comfortable. Next to her, Bea slung the bag off her shoulder and reached in to pull out a tall glass bottle.

“Alright! We’ve got some celebrating to do, Mae!” Bea announced extravagantly as she presented the mammal with the bottle. Mae picked the glass up gingerly and squinted as she tried to read the label in the moonlight. “Melrose Melodies”? Hey, Mae remembered her parents having this for one of their anniversary dinners!

“Whoa! This is some fancy shit!” Mae exclaimed as she set the bottle down and let her mouth hang open with bewilderment. Mae felt like this was wine that should be enjoyed at a ritzy restaurant that you had to make reservations for, not wine that’s passed between friends as they talked in an old playground that they were trespassing on.

“What’s the occasion?” Mae asked with astonishment as she looked over to Bea, an expectant grin spreading across her snout as she stood up from the ground. Sticking her hands on her hips, Bea struck a confident pose in front of Mae before answering her question.

“I’m going to college!” Bea announced triumphantly with a beaming smile, the soft blue light from the moon wrapping around Bea’s outline. The response echoed into the night as Mae’s jaw dropped. After a split second of stunned silence, an excited grin overtook Mae’s face as she shook her head in disbelief.

“No way! For real?!” Mae nearly shouted out as she hopped onto her feet and started to jitter her fists up and down, her body quivering from excitement.

“Absolutely!” Bea confirmed, her glowing smile being complimented by the moonlight shimmering around her. Mae could contain herself no longer. With an enthusiastic high-pitched squeal, she attacked Bea with a bear hug and jumped up and down with delight as she nearly flung the reptile out of her embrace with her frantic motions. Laughing wildly with happiness, Bea let herself be swept off her feet by Mae’s hug, the two eventually settling down into a stationary hug.

“Bea, I am so happy for you!! I don’t even know what to say!!” Mae bellowed out, not caring if anybody heard her. Mae settled for hugging Bea as close to her as possible to show how happy she was for her friend. Bea was finally going to be able to chase her dreams. After all this pain and hardship that she had to endure, Bea finally had the chance to be free. She was doomed no more!

“Hahaha, I know Mae, this is probably like one of the best days of my life!” Bea happily exclaimed as she returned Mae’s tight hug and rested her chin on the feline’s head. Mae purred happily in the warm embrace, savoring in the closeness they shared. Mae nuzzled comfortably into Bea’s chest as the taller girl lifted her hands up to Mae’s head and gently combed her fingers through the feline’s fur and up to the back of her hairline. Mae mewled out softly in pleasure as Bea’s fingers continued their journey through Mae’s hair.

Just as Mae thought she might risk falling asleep in Bea’s arms, the croc repositioned her hands to the sides of Mae’s face and gently pulled it away from her chest. Mae opened her eyes and blinked a few times before looking up to meet Beatrice’s eyes. Moonlight glimmered in her navy blue eyes as her mascaraed eye lids drooped down. Mae’s heart was in her throat as she kept her eyes locked with Bea’s.

She couldn't help but admire Bea as she stared into her eyes. Everything about her was so beautiful. From her sleek slender body that hid surprising strength, to her steady and confident personality and impeccable goth fashion, Bea was the true definition of a gorgeous badass. She even had a soft side too.  Mae wondered if Bea thought anything about her was beautiful. Probably not, Mae was always the friend with “a good sense of humor” or “a great personality”. She was never the pretty friend.

“I like your eyes,” Bea commented in a whisper, almost as if she had been reading Mae's thoughts.

“You do?” Mae asked after a moment of hesitation as a warm toothy grin spread across Bea’s maw.

“Yep. They’re really pretty,” Bea said softly, her scaled fingers stroking at Mae’s cheek. A familiar warm blush flooded into Mae’s face at the combination of Bea’s complement and her touch. Oh geez. Mae should give her a compliment too. But what to choose? There were so many things she loved about Bea. Don’t screw this up, Mae. Just pick something.

With a wave of panic rushing over Mae, she glanced up at Bea in an attempt to pick something romantic about the reptile to compliment her on. Mouth. Bea had one of the cutest toothy grins in the world. There we go, it was perfect!

“I uh… like your… teeth? I mean like when you smile and… you have a great smile. With your cool teeth haha,” Mae managed to stutter out before instantly regretting the sentence that left her lips. Wow, Mae. Smooth.

She did think that Bea’s black glossy teeth were very cool and fit quite well with her goth aesthetic, but that fact was hardly transmitted in her rambling compliment. It just made Mae sound like she was a creepy dentist looking to steal her pearly whites. Or pearly blacks rather.

Bea’s eyes opened with a bit of confusion at the compliment before she narrowed her eyes again and let out a small laugh. Her snickering wasn’t mean spirited though, it was the kind of laugh that a parent would give their child after watching them try to take their first steps and failing miserably.  

“Hey. I like your smile as well, Mae,” Bea said with a comforting tone as she leaned her face closer towards Mae’s.

“And I think I like your lips too,” Bea said in a low, husky whisper, her words strung together with a faint slur. Mae didn’t dare to move a muscle as the two girls’ gazes stayed locked onto each other. Mae could feel Bea’s shallow breathing gently blow past her face and cause her whiskers to twitch reflexively. Her heart was beating so hard and fast it felt like she was sprinting a marathon. Bea’s face was hovering mere inches away from Mae’s, as if she was waiting for something.

Swallowing thickly, Mae cautiously puckered her lips and briefly placed them onto Bea’s. The peck of a kiss was quick and awkward, but it was apparently the permission that Bea had been looking for. Closing her eyes, Bea leaned back into Mae’s lips as her fingers gripped at the fur in the back of Mae’s head. Mae gave a small gasp of surprise at the exchange before melting into the kiss. Bea’s lips were cold against hers from the nighttime chill, but Mae didn’t care.

Mae struggled to keep herself upright as she tugged on the smooth surface of Bea’s overcoat. Mae had never felt something so real and captivating in her life. She had never had a proper kiss before, and this kiss felt amazing. Not even just the kiss itself, but the build up of emotions and experiences that had all lead to this moment seemed to drift away into unimportance.

It felt like a new chapter of Mae’s life was opening, and the weight of the past had been tossed aside. There were no fights, no escaping cults in the claustrophobic mines, no hole at the center of the universe sucking everything into nothingness. There was just Mae, Bea, and the kiss that they shared.

And it was perfect.

The kiss eventually broke off as the two separated to catch their breath.

“Wow,” Mae commented with awe as she ran her tongue over her tingling lips. There was a fruity sweetness left over from Bea’s lips. Flavored lip gloss perhaps? Or maybe it was from the wine…?

“Yeah. Wow,” Bea said in a hushed whisper as she held Mae close in her arms, a warm violet blush spread across her cheeks. So many emotions of happiness were bubbling up inside of Mae’s chest that she couldn’t contain them. Mae started laughing wildly in Bea’s embrace as the reptile joined in with a confused half-laugh.

“Wh-what’s so funny?” Bea asked with a concerned look. Mae stifled her laughing as she parted from Bea’s hug, smiling brightly up at the crocodile.

“Sorry sorry, it’s just that.. Like.. Oh my God Bea we kissed! You kissed me!” Mae exclaimed joyously as Bea turned away from the mammal with a stronger blush than before.

“Yep, that is a thing that we did,” Bea said with a smile creeping across her lips despite her efforts to play off the kiss as no big deal.

“Heheh, that was a pretty bold move for someone who claims to be straight,” Mae teased as Bea huffed in embarrassment.

“I _am_ straight, you dumbass,” Bea stated with a glare before tilting her head thoughtfully. “Or I was? Ugh, I don’t know now. Who gives a shit about labels anyways?”

Mae agreed with a silent nod. Labels were only good for things that stayed the same, like spices or types of species of fish. People were always changing, so labels were temporary at best.

“Listen, I don’t really know how this all happened, but I meant it when I said you were special, Mae. And you do mean a hell of a lot to me. So maybe after all we’ve been through together, I might uh… I might have more seriously considered you as possibly being more than a friend,” Bea admitted bashfully as she kicked up leaves at her feet.

“Aaaawwwwww!! You wike me beatwiceeee?” Mae said in childish tone with a massive grin as Bea groaned in exasperation and slapped her forehead.

“Goddamn it Mae, can you be serious for like three seconds here? I’m trying to tell you that I lo-... have feelings for you!” Bea stuttered in frustration. Mae gave a sour frown at Bea’s confession as guilt panged through her body. Aww man, this really meant a lot to Bea and she was being a total assshole about it. Mae really was no good with romance.

“I’m sorry, Bea. I’m really bad at this kind of stuff. It’s just that I… well... I’ve liked you for a while,” Mae said with a pitiful smile before she continued.

“And for all of this to be happening right now, part of me is expecting this to be a dream, or some bad joke! It feels like any second now someone’s gonna pop out of the bushes and say this was all some cruel prank,” Mae admitted with a distressed sigh. Bea placed a reassuring hand on Mae’s shoulder with a toothy smile.

“If anybody comes out of the bushes, I’ll kick their ass,” Bea said confidently, causing Mae to chuckle happily. It was always a good feeling to have Bea watching her back, even if it was against some person creeping in the bushes that didn’t exist. Or did they? Mae quickly shot a glance into the surrounding shrubbery before relaxing again. No bush lurking weirdos out tonight, thankfully.  

“Thanks BeaBea, I appreciate it,” Mae said with a warm smile. Bea returned the gesture before taking her hand off of Mae’s shoulder and stuffing it back into her pocket. Mae paused in the silence, considering the question that had been floating in her mind since they kissed.

“I don’t wanna sound cliché or anything, but are we like… a thing now?” Mae asked as she fiddled with her thumbs nervously. Bea gave a calculating stare at the feline as Mae saw her pondering the question thoughtfully.

“We could be,” Bea replied in a half-response, half-offer.  

“Would we be a “carve our initials into a side of a tree” thing or a “kiss me once under the bleachers and let me borrow your varsity jacket on the weekends” kinda thing?” Mae asked with a curious flick of her tail.  

Bea gave a bewildered open-mouthed stare as she tried to process the examples that Mae had given.

“I don't know what the hell either of those oddly specific things are supposed to mean, Mae,” Bea replied with a confused look still plastered over her face. Mae laughed softly before reaching out to grab Bea’s hand and wrap it in hers.

“Nevermind. We totally could carve our initials into the boat though!” Mae offered with a smile as Bea laced her fingers into Mae’s.

“Because this area is soooo full of romance,” Bea commented with a smug smirk, the two making their way back to their previous position on the ground.

“Good thing neither of us have nose rings that can be torn out!” Mae joked, reaching down into her jacket’s pocket and plucking out the utility knife that was stored away there. Bea flashed a small look of surprise at the tool in Mae’s hand.

“Isn’t that the knife you use at work? Do you always have that on you?” Bea questioned.

“Nah, I usually leave it in my jacket, which I just so happen to be wearing on this fine evening!” Mae answered as she pushed the blade up from the casing and set to engraving the pair’s initials into the wood. After a few moments of whittling, Mae stepped back with a proud smile as she showed off her handiwork to Bea. In the wood a little bit to the right where Mr. Snorkles’ tentacles faded off, Mae had carved a simple “M+B” with a heart around it into the wood.

“Taa-daa!” Mae exclaimed with a flourish. Bea smiled softly as she grabbed Mae’s hand and squeezed it lovingly.

“I like it,” Bea said with a genuine smile.

“I like you,” Mae responded with a playful poke to Bea’s cheek. The reptile laughed and batted away Mae’s poking hand while still holding the other.

“Alright, Mayday. Less face poking and more celebrating,” Bea remarked as she sat herself down on the ground, Mae plopping down next to her. The lizard draped her arm over Mae’s shoulders, snatching the wine bottle from the ground and uncorking it.

“To a better future away from the shit hole known as Possum Springs,” Bea declared as she lifted the bottle towards the skies.

“To the future!” Mae agreed as Bea brought down the bottle and took a small swig from it before passing it to Mae.

“Cheers,” Mae said as she took the bottle, offering a fist bump in place of wine glasses to clink together.

“Cheers.”

The girls fist bumped and Mae took a cautious sip from the bottle. Oh boy, this did taste really good. Nice and bubbly too! Mae was looking forward to spending the night out here with Bea, this was going to be fun.


	9. Announcement

Hey guys! As some fans of the story may have seen, there was once a chapter 9 here with intentions of continuing the story past chapter 8.

But after several months of stewing and struggling to figure out where to take the story next, I went back and reread what I had, and I found that in all honestly, chapter 8 seemed to wrap up the story I wanted to tell quite nicely. 

It was difficult for me to make this decision as there were some more character dynamics I wanted to showcase with some of the side characters, but ultimately they were just ideas with no real substance. 

The story as it sits is wrapped up pretty well in my mind, and I hope that you as the reader agree! This won't be my last piece of nitw writing I can assure you, as there's another tale I've been wanting to tell for quite some time.... 

So with that, I'd like to thank you all so much for reading my silly little MaeBea story! The love and support you all have given me means so much to me, that I can't even begin to express how happy you all have made me. 

Thank you very much,  
SarcasticCartoonist


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